A Typical Summer Morning

During Addie's morning nap the boys and I typically head to the front or backyard and get some energy out. On this particular morning Alex kept saying "MOM! Take a picture of me doing THIS!." I did.

and sometimes during his "photo shoot" of all things AWESOME that he can do, I zoom in and get one of his sweet little face. He has NO idea. :)

Parenting aka a rollercoaster

Parenting is always changing. I have been saying lately how things seem a bit easier and this stage is so funny, yada yada. THEN the past couple of weeks happened and I feel like I have been hit by a truck.

Last night the boys were up until 11 pm because they napped a bit late. I am ready to be done with the children thing and vegging out with Jared by 8:30 or so, SO this doesn't really work for me.

Today, we are trying "quiet time" rather than napping. Remarkably after shooing them back to their SEPARATE rooms (one is in my room) a few times it has been QUIET.

I am really appreciating this time. I also hired my niece to come over for a couple of hours so that I could grocery shop and breathe. So it is a good Monday, as far as Monday's go. :)

On a completely random note: a blog I read on photography shared blurry pictures that they'd taken and loved. When photographing blurry is not usually what the goal is but sometimes pictures draw you in despite their lack of perfection.

This is one that I took recently that I LOVE despite the blur.

As I always tell my boys: So "hubba-hubba handsome". ;)

Here's hoping for an early bedtime tonight!!!!

More Party Pictures

I didn't take 1/2 as many pictures as I would have liked. I was trying to enjoy the party a bit rather than be behind the camera. It was a lot of fun and I still can't believe she is a big ONE year old.

Power Outage

First of all Addie's test went VERY well yesterday. She has some low frequency hearing loss but nothing that should affect speech or require a hearing aid. We are very pleased.

On a whole other subject....a few weeks ago, the wknd of the 4th, we had a huge storm and had NO power. We spent one night at the house but by the next day we decided to make lemonade out of the lemons we'd been given.

Jared decided we would go stay at a hotel. I LOVE this man. We went to a nice hotel with a pool and had room service and actually relaxed some. Truth be told, it was more relaxing than our vacation up north AND way cheaper. :)

Our neighbors tree came down in the storm and managed to fall in between their cars that were parked in the driveway and it missed their house. This made us feel less guilty when we drug a lawn chair to the front yard so that the boys could watch the city workers cut the tree and put it through the chipper. They were quite happy.

Relaxing with Daddy

The boys enjoying vegging out in front of the TV, obliged Mommy and let her interrupt to take a pic.

Addie's Progress

Addie had her 1 yr. check-up. She is doing well. She is on the chart for height not corrected. 25th percentile, no less. She is not on the chart for weight. She still only weighs 16 lbs. 14 oz. May the girl stay tall and skinny. Wouldn't THAT be awesome for her. Little Stinker.

The doctor would like to see her crawling, pulling up on furniture and doing a bit more than babbling. She also was gagging when I put anything that had texture into her mouth. She was refferred to early on for an assessment with a OT and PT.

Jared and I are not new to these types of referrals. We took it in stride. We are preemie veterans with this one. :) A week later, which was yesterday, Addie decided to start crawling. She is also eating stage 3 foods, puffs and baby biscuits. This has LITERALLY all happened in the last week.

We will still meet with the OT and PT. I think professionals will obviously offer us a wealth of information and I am eager to learn ways in which I can help Addie get on track.

As far as starting to say words we are having a sedated ABR tomorrow and we will FINALLY, after an entire year, know FOR SURE whether or not she has permanent hearing loss that will require a hearing aid. I am so ready for some answers AND I want to make sure she hears our words well so she can get talking.

These are pictures of Addie that I took the day before her party. I had no hope of getting any good ones on the day of. The boys were my little assistants and blew bubbles to entertain Little Miss.

We had such a nice 1st Birthday party for her, surrounded by family. It went really well and it was our first BIG party at the new house. I had fun putting up a few decorations and making my little girl a tutu. SO FUN!

Random Pictures

Shadows and my Lightscoop.

First of all I happened to have my camera around my neck when we ran to the front yard the other day to see if Daddy was home. I saw the shadows and decided to have some fun with the boys. They love shadows during the day just not so much at night.

Such a Peter Pan pose.

Eli was excited to be "IN the basketball hoop".

Secondly, I got my lightscoop a few weeks ago and wanted to the show the before and afters. I really like this for days when there is not much natural light (ie Michigan Winters) to be had or for at night in your home.

Pop-up Flash

Lightscoop

Pop-up flash

Lightscoop

I thought the results were impressive for $30.

Lucky girl

Addie's first birthday present was a full round of 1 year shots at the doctor's office. I know, how mean am I? BUT the boys needed shots too and Jared was able to come with AND they were all sick anyways so it just added to the misery.

Hopefully the cake I put in front of her on Friday and all that sugar will go to her brain and she will forget the way I tortured her. Except for the fact that I am blogging about it.

I am currently doing breathing treatments every 4 hours for 3 children. Oh yeah and all 3 are on steroids which isn't that big of a deal except for the fact that Jared has to hold Alex down while I squeeze his cheeks and insert the medicine into his mouth while he gags and sputters 2x/day. It's horrible. Oh and did I mention that I have a cold? Anyways, we are currently the enemy. Even the shake and the chocolate milk we offered him before and after did NOTHING.

Eli on the other hand takes his little medicine cup and swallows it all in one gulp. Done.

Yeah, they are a little different.

Not sure why I am blogging about it other than the fact that I am a HUGE procrastinator and should be cleaning my house because I am having friends over tonight and am therefore avoiding cleaning my bathrooms. Ok. Off I go. Well, after some pictures of all the fun we've been having.

Getting 4 year old boys to rest is always fun. If I let them watch videos they will rest a ton but it's been 10 day since this all started. Only so many videos can be watched. So I am trying to get them to nap and do other quiet activities.

It works sometimes.

Sometimes it does NOT.

P.S. My sons never want to wear clothes anymore. They want to be "nakey belly".

The Birthday Girl

See this sassy little girl

with these adorable little tootsies

and these precious little hands

last year she was still in Mommy's belly

and then at about 11 am

she was here.

We love you pretty girl. Happy 1st Birthday EVER!

A little of the busyness

Part of the busyness of last weekend was watching this guy.

My nephew, Colin. He was on the all-stars team and was in the FINALS. This is big news in Little League Land. They were the underdogs from what I understand. He pitches and plays 2nd. We made it to two of the final games and I had a lot of fun watching him play.

Here he is headed towards 3rd.

He could go all. the. way.

And sliding safely into home! Aww yeah!

And here he is looking super cute running in from the field. "Super cute" in an "I kick butt" kind of way, of course.

Oh and here is a picture of Jared and Addie that I HAD to add because they look super cute also.

Oh I forgot to mention that they ended up coming in 2nd. They really did an awesome job.