Saturday, June 30, 2012

Date 6 of 12

Our June date was supposed to be a trip to the Muny in St. Louis, but we never made it there since Mike's work schedule changed and it was seriously just too hot! So...last night (after I took photos at a wedding rehearsal...the wedding I am photographing is today) we decided to head out to dinner and have some yummy appetizers and drinks. We then decided to head home and invite our friends, Erica (who was already watching our boys) and Brandon, over to play Buzz. We LOVE this quiz game. It's hilarious and was the perfect way to spend our date night.

Here are the past dates


 Making our characters/players for the game show

 Poor Brandon...aka "Bambi"  :)


Head here for some other great ideas!!


new do...

Before




After




Much cooler on these 100*+ days :)

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Car trips...

We are gearing up for a few road trips in the next month and to help the time go quickly for Evan I decided to make some things that I think will help in the car. :)

First I printed off some background "scenes". I can't find the website where I downloaded a few of them from. (If I do find it, I will link it back up!!). You can also google construction scenes or dinosaur scenes and then click on images to see if any will work. Then, I copied and pasted them into a word document and printed them out on regular printer paper. I also laminated everything to help for durability and so we can reuse them again.

I got 2 smaller cookies sheets at the dollar store that work perfectly for this. I also bought magnetic tape. The rest I used from around the house (car toys, construction trucks, space/airplane/glow in the dark stars, trains). If I didn't have anything that I could use (or that would stick onto the cookie sheet with the magnetic tape well) I then found images online, saved them and printed them in color. and also laminated them. 
Everything has a piece of the magnetic tape on the back to keep it on the cookie sheet.

Our "scenes" include
Construction
Pirates
Space
Cars
Farming
Superhero
Dinosaur
Army
Trains
Matching/Puzzles/Coloring sheets

I also included some laminated coloring sheets and bought some dry erase washable markers that Evan can use. That way, we can reuse them! :)

I put everything in a ziplock bag for that "scene" and when we are in the car, I can just grab one of the bags out at a time. They fit nice and neat in his book bag that the Morrison family made for his 2nd birthday. Perfect!










 For the matching, I also placed a small piece of the magnetic tape on the back for him to match them and put them on the cookie sheet. Each group of matching pieces is in a smaller ziplock bag. :)

 And we are ready!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully Evan will love it!! :)




Monday, June 25, 2012

Hello Monday

Hello to the last week of summer school

Hello to Bachelorette tonight

Hello to Evan feeling better

Hello to cute swimmers


Hello to having a fun Sunday evening swim


Hello to friends

Hello to face plants in the water ;)


Hello to brothers and blueberries

Hello to a Monday afternoon at the library

Hello to puzzles

Hello to spending time with my boys

Hello to both boys asleep by 745 tonight...yes!!! :)

Hello to decisions about cutting my hair...

Hello to forgiveness

Hello to trying to get organized for our two upcoming trips!! :)

Happy Monday!

emergency rooms...

Friday we headed to St. Louis to see my family and for the Race for the Cure walk on Saturday. Evan was complaining of his boy parts hurting and stomach hurting this past week, but it wasn't consistent and he seemed to be okay. On the drive to St. Louis, he was complaining again, so I called the doctor while driving and the nurse said to take him in because it sounded like it could be his kidneys.

Kelli watched Alex for me and Evan and I went to the hospital. They did a catheter again...ugh. I told the nurse that I would need help holding him down for this part and she said that she could handle it. So...I tried my best, but when Evan kicked her in the face, you could tell she was very  mad. I did warn her though. :) Evan has had the catheter 2 other times and he knew that it hurt. Poor guy. He kept saying that he was better and was all done. I felt so bad.  Everything came back normal from that test, but he still was in pain. They really didn't give me an answer but said that it could be urethritis. So...we went home.


We got home around 4:30 and he seemed to be feeling a little better. The boys played outside and even ate a great dinner. We played outside with my dad and mom and my sister.
Evan finally fell asleep around 9 pm. Then...around 1:00 am, he woke up crying and complaining and saying that it hurt. He was jumping up and down, holding his boy parts and crying and whining and would not stop....so, finally after 2 hours of trying to get him to fall back asleep...I took him to Cardinal Glennon. We got there around 3:15 am.
After doing another catheter, this time they decided to also take a sample to test for an infection in the bladder or kidneys, they also decided to drain the bladder all the way. He had an erection and the doctor said that it was hard for him to pee when it was like that, and maybe all of the pee wasn't releasing from his bladder and backing up into his kidneys...
So, after the catheter sample, they drained it and there was so much urine....as soon as it was all released, he was not in pain anymore. Everything else came back fine from the urine sample and blood work. The doctor said that it was urine retention. They were unsure as to why it was happening, especially because he isn't potty trained all the way yet and most of the time is still in a diaper. So...they told us that we needed to see a urologist. We left there around 5 am.



Saturday...driving home at 5 am from Cardinal Glennon, we saw a beautiful sunrise. Got home, was hoping to put Evan to bed since he had only 4 1/2 hours of sleep...but Alex woke up and was up for the 1st part of the morning, so Evan thought it was "wake" time. He did lay on the couch with my mom for a little bit...


We headed to meet my family for the St. Louis Race for the Cure, but I was going to leave from there and go home. With me on 2 hours of sleep and Evan having 4.5...it just wasn't going to be pretty with him downtown with a ton of people, no sleep, and it being hot. So, we saw lots of family and friends and we had a pretty good turn out for Barb's Team this year. Can't believe this was the third year...we miss her so much.


About 10 minutes into our drive home...



Hopefully the urologist we need to see will have some answers...thank you for your prayers.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

boys...

Just wanted to give an update about the boys before I forget some of the fun things they have been doing lately. :) Here we are...Evan at 3 years 1 month and Alex at 13 months.

Evan is hilarious. He says some pretty funny things. I've been trying to write them down, but I often forget. A couple of the things he has been doing lately, is when we sing Jesus Loves Me....at the part where it it goes "they are weak, but he is strong..." every time after we sing he is strong...he says, "Like a Superhero," and then holds his arms up like he is making big muscles. He has also been trying to take care of Alex by saying baby Alex is hungry or he has a wet diaper. He loves to tickle Alex and make him laugh...then says "I made Alex happy" :)
 He loves to try to do everything himself....taking off or putting on clothes, washing face and hands, and helping with holding doors or carrying things inside. It's pretty cute! Is still in love with Superheros and being nice :) He is doing so well at preschool and LOVES going there to play with his friends. Has endless energy and his favorite thing to do right now is to go play outside. Loves climbing on our backyard climber and looking for bugs. Still isn't interested in potty training, but I think we are getting there. He will go, but if it is forced or we push, he doesn't want to. Is wearing size 3T shorts and 4T shirts and size 9 shoes. Man, I love this kid!




Alex is almost 14 months old!!!!!! He looks like such a big kid with his new haircut. He is walking all over the place and you can almost see him try to run but his little legs won't catch up yet. He is a pro at climbing up steps and doing fairly well at going down them. He wants to just walk down, so if we remind him "feet first" or "sit on your bottom" he usually does that and is fine. He also LOVES to dance. He will sway back and forth, clap and get the biggest grin on his face anytime there is music on. Loves to clap and wave bye bye.  Alex is getting more vocal and actually has a few real words...he has been saying dada and mama for awhile, but you can also hear bird, ball, ohhh, and uh-oh. Sometimes you might be able to make out the words; that, more, and done. He is signing "all done" but it is more like a very exaggerated hand clap. :) He gets SO SO excited when it is time to eat, he will start to reach for his tray when I am putting him in his chair and start clapping. Eats almost anything...loves meat, cheese, fruit, not a big fan of vegetables, but does eat them. Loves fruity cheerios, raisin bread, blueberries, watermelon, and anything that Evan, Mike or I eat. :) Wearing size 4 shoes and diapers and is in 18-24 month shorts and shirts and size 2T pajamas. Love this little guy!!!





Sunday, June 17, 2012

Happy Father's Day!

We had a great day today (even though Mike had to work this afternoon/evening)
 Happy Father's Day to Mike, my dad, and Mike's dad....


Morning at church...


Gifts :)

Evan answered all of the questions on his own...too cute!


Since Daddy had to go to work, we made him and his co-workers pink lemonade cookies! Delicious!
(We used the same recipe on the box but instead of the 1 egg, we used 1/3 cup of applesauce so Evan could have some too!)

We Skype'd with my mom, dad, Kelli and Brad....so excited to see them this weekend for the Race for the Cure walk in St. Louis. Happy Father's Day DAD!! LOVE YOU!!!

 After dropping off the cookies, we headed to the park...



We also celebrated with Mike's dad yesterday!





Friday, June 15, 2012

Saying thanks...

Thursday we decided to finally set up a time and drop off our donations to Children's Hospital. It was a very emotional visit for Mike and I even though it wasn't very long. We met up with two of the Family Life workers (one who was even there and helping us when Evan was hospitalized for the week). They were so very grateful for the toys that could be used and we were so very thankful for everything the hospital did making sure our boys got better last fall. (see links below...)
If they didn't catch the bacteria in Evan's blood right away or we didn't bring him in when we did, he would have been much sicker than what he was...scary.



For the boy's birthday party on the invitation, we wrote that we wanted to be a Superhero for someone else. We asked instead of toys for Evan and Alex, if they wanted to bring a new or gently used toy, that we would be donating them to the hospital.



We had a rough time last fall...
Evan hospitalized twice for almost 2 weeks
October 25, 2011
Reading through that first post brings tears to my eyes...Evan was so very sick...we didn't know how sick at the time. Being in the hospital with him and having to care for a 5 month old was even worse. Thankfully Mike's parents and my parents were able to come up to the hospital and give Mike and I a break or stay home with Alex until it was his next feeding.
Day 4 in the hospital
Last days/thoughts

Alex hospitalized twice for 4 days total
Thanksgiving illness...respiratory infection, double ear infection, hospital stay

Gratitude days/posts about boys and being sick/getting better
Nov. 2nd
Nov. 10th
Nov. 16th
Nov. 17th

This picture makes me smile...being able to give back and help other kids and families who are there now or might be there in the future is a great feeling. Getting our boys involved in giving back at such a young age is an even better feeling. We are so very blessed and thankful for the hospital, nurses, staff, doctors and our family and friends for helping us through a tough and scary time...
It feels good to give back...