Mother's Day

For Mother's Day (and my birthday), Nate gave me the best present! He took care of the boys for 3 days so I could watch a photography workshop online and then played photographer for me in a Mother's Day photoshoot with my boys. Since I'm usually behind the camera, I thought it was important to make sure I get some pictures in front of the camera with Henry & Owen. While they weren't super into my photoshoot idea, I still love all the pictures because they are a perfect example of what things are like right now with them. And with that, here are the pictures of me and my boys, some of me in front of the camera, and some of me behind the camera - I just can't stand not to take pics when I have the chance!



































Thank you Nate, Henry & Owen for making my day so special!

Happy Birthday Henry!

And yes, I realize that was a few weeks ago, but that's just how I roll these days. Despite being at the ER with Owen until late the night before Henry's birthday, I wanted him to wake up feeling special. So, with what little energy we had, we hung streamers, wrapped presents and blew up balloons so he would have a special treat awaiting him in the morning. We even had a streamer leading him into our room with a present for him to open before he left for school. And after all that, we climbed into bed for a few hours sleep and kept our fingers crossed that he wouldn't wake in the middle of the night and see all of the festivities.



Luckily he slept well that night and was super surprised. He excitedly put on his party hat on and took it all in.







I was impressed that we were even able to get ready, open the present and have a birthday photoshoot before school. I love the pictures I captured of Henry during our photoshoot. We were discussing all the different things that could be wrapped up in his present and the looks he gave me are the looks I see everyday. And so, here are the many expressions of Henry . . .













He brought cupcakes to share with all of his friends and had a wonderful day. I was sad I wasn't able to spend it all with him, so I loved seeing the pictures posted to FaceBook (and stole them for the blog - thank you Cassie!) . . .







Weeks earlier, I had asked him what kind of cake he wanted. By this, I meant chocolate or white, but apparently I didn't specify. He declared he would like a truck cake in response to my question. I have no idea where that idea came from, and he is not in a phase where he openly shares his preferences about things (his favorite part of the day: all of it, his favorite color: all of them, and so on). And so a truck cake he was getting! Thank you Pinterest for helping us mommas out! I apologize in advance for how many cake pictures there are, but I was really quite proud of how the cake turned out!







His dinner of choice was mac & cheese and chicken nuggets. Since I'd invited Grandma Debbie & Grandpa Michael over for his birthday dinner, I decided maybe I should do something a bit nicer than the boxed mac & cheese. So, thank you again Pinterest for allowing me to find the easiest mac & cheese recipe possible!







And finally it was time for cake and presents! Grandpa read Henry a special letter, the trucks on top of the cake were a big hit with Henry & Owen, and of course presents are always fun to open.













Happy Birthday Henry! I can not even believe how fast 4 years have flown by. And with your love of reading, it only seems appropriate to include a quote from Dr. Seuss . . .

“You're off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting,

So... get on your way!”

― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Stitches - Round 2

**WARNING: These are pics and videos from the hospital, so they are a little graphic. Feel free to skip this post if you're a bit squeamish over blood!**

It's been a rough few weeks. First, both boys got the stomach flu which lasted for close to a week. The only good part of them feeling sick? The snuggles!



Within a few days of recovering from the flu, Owen developed his first round of pink eye. Yes, I said first round because it looks like it returned tonight, so here we go again! Once the pink eye was cleared up (or so I thought), he decided to do a header into the corner of Grandma's brick fireplace. Grandma, of course, felt awful that it happened at her house, but the speed that he moves his little feet means he is constantly falling and hitting his head on things. He's a human canon ball running into everything in his path. I'm seriously looking for a bubble wrap outfit for him and thinking about requiring him to wear a helmet at all times. Too much?

And so, with a fresh wound on his forehead, we were off to the ER for round 2 of stitches for Owen (in less than 2 months, mind you! - See round 1 HERE). Again, these are graphic pictures (albeit a bit blurry since they were taken on my phone), so consider yourself warned.

From the time we checked in until the time we left was over 2 hours! So while it was completely awful getting the stitches, it was almost as awful trying to entertain a 22 month old for over 2 hours while simultaneously trying to keep him from touching anything and catching some awful sickness from the ER. Fun times. And keep in mind that I am writing this almost a week later, so I'm much calmer about the whole thing now. I was a mess during the process because I already knew how awful it was going to be for him getting stitches.

And so we waited in the waiting room . . .



We waited in the hospital room . . .



Owen had some fun watching Mickey on Daddy's phone and playing with the camera (yay for free wifi in the hospital!). I find these videos hilarious, but you just have to ignore the bloody forehead. Either way, it shows that he was feeling fine at the hospital, so at least I wasn't too worried about him (as long as I wasn't thinking about the stitches). Apparently taking a video of yourself is hilarious. And he pulled out all the stops . . .





Eventually, though, we did have to finish what we came for (oh, and did I mention that he broke out in hives when they put the topical numbing stuff on his forehead? Yeah, so that's a fun allergy to discover - At least the hives went away quickly once they removed it and he had it on long enough to numb the area without another shot). As for the stitches, it took 1 guy to hold him down (apparently Owen remembered all his tricks for wriggling out of his swaddle as a newborn, because he was a little Houdini getting his arms out of the papoose) and a nurse and doctor to perform the stitches. He was NOT happy to be tied down!


That look just breaks my heart. I want to rescue him, but I know he needs to finish the process. So not fun. I do NOT recommend your child needing stitches! OK, I admit, my eyes just teared up again seeing that picture. So, so hard.

OK, so I've always know being a doctor wasn't in my future. Dealing with injuries is definitely not my thing (of course my kids and family are always different, but I've never been in a hurry to find a way into those situations). So, needless to say, I was very proud of myself being able to watch when he got the stitches in his lip. Apparently that is my limit. I did not fare as well this time around. I won't go into details, but when the nurse recommended I sit down, I took her up on that and comforted from a distance. More than anything I can not handle seeing how fragile the human body is. I want to believe my baby is invincible! With that said, there are no pictures of the stitching process. You can thank me later. You don't need to know what it looks like if you can help it!

Instead, here is the after picture as he calmed down with some apple juice. He wanted nothing to do with the doctor or nurses after the stitches, but he did accept the juice with a scowl on his face. And that juice was well earned. You did amazing buddy!



And things seem to be healing well. He gets fun new bandaids every day and he really doesn't seem to notice it much.



I'm so happy it turned out well, but Owen, can you please give Mommy a bit of a break? Maybe just slow those feet down a bit? Thanks. Love, Mommy.

March Happenings

Oh man, this week did not go as planned. I've had this post in the works for some time and was planning to post it before Henry's birthday (pictures to come). But after yet another trip to the ER for stitches for Owen, I got a wee bit behind. For the record, Owen is totally fine, and that is another blog post in the works (with pictures, so that should prove that as awful as the experience was, he was feeling good enough for us to take pics).

And with that, here are the March adventures that haven't been blogged yet . . .

Nate
March was a month of celebration for Nate. The first celebration was when we found out he passed the PFS (Personal Financial Specialist) exam. Basically, this is just another credential that he can add to his CPA license. What that means to our clients and CPA practice is that he can provide additional services for them besides the tax returns. What it means to me and the boys? Balloons and celebrating! We surprised Nate with a house full of balloons and a ribbon leading him to his present. OK, so it wasn't the fanciest gift, but it's what we could come up with on short notice. Balloons, treats and a movie (since we rarely take time to watch movies that weren't created by Disney). Congrats Nate! We are so so proud of you!







And the 2nd celebration? His birthday! Pinterest inspired me to bake him cupcakes from scratch (sprinkles, his favorite) and if I do say so myself, I think they turned out pretty good!





Aunt Dori
We were lucky enough to get to see Dori, even if it was only for a few hours. The boys loved playing with her and we all enjoyed catching up and spending time with her.











Swimming
The boys continue to take swim lessons and love it (for the most part). Lately Henry has been a little stubborn about not wanting to go, but hopefully it's just a phase and he'll move on from it soon. When he's not being stubborn, he does amazing in his class. He can swim short distances by himself and is working on other swimming skills (U-turns, back floats, diving for toys, etc). And Owen is having a blast splashing around in his class with us (Nate and I switch off swimming with him). At the end of their last session (in March), I took pictures of boat safety week.

We were there a bit early, so we enjoyed the beautiful weather outside for a few minutes . . .







And then it was on to life vests, rafts and fun! Henry enjoyed every bit of it and Owen enjoyed most of it (he was not the biggest fan of the life vests and was really not in to taking a ride in the raft).

























Parks
Not wanting to let any of the good weather pass us by, I headed to the park on a sunny March day with the boys. And I don't think this is a park I will go to by myself with them again until they're much older. They absolutely LOVED the older playground equipment. The tall slides made me quite nervous (I mean, Owen was still recovering from his first round of stitches)! Thankfully we all made it out without any injuries, but Owen can climb those ladders so quickly, I can't keep track of him! Henry was much more cautious and careful, but still made me a bit nervous.







Etc

Spring flowers - they come and go so quickly, I wish I'd taken more time to photograph them!


Owen and his cars. He is seriously obsessed with them! He sorts them, lines them up, throws them and pretty much does whatever he feels like with them. But regardless, he has to play with them daily or he gets super cranky!



Owen helping Daddy clean the deck. Not sure how helpful it was, but it kept him occupied!



So much more to share, so I think I'll just dress Owen in bubble wrap so I can get through all our recent pictures without any more mishaps!