A week has gone by?!

WOW--time flies! I realized it's been a week since I've posted! Dad and Louise's visit was great. Dad and Brent got a LOT done. They put in a set of pull-down stairs for the attic, and added flooring to the attic so Brent can start using it for storage. Dad also moved some duct-work around in the basement so Brent would have more storage room down there, too. This makes me wonder...DO WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF?!

The weather was kind of rainy, so my plans going to the zoo were rained out. Louise and I played the Wii for a while, and finally took the kids to the mall to wander around. It cleared up a little on Sunday, so I took her for a walk around the neighborhood. Mostly we just visited and played with the kids--I hope I didn't bore her too much. This second picture where Graham's asleep on the floor, check out his arm. He has it wrapped around her leg while he sleeps like he's not letting her get away!

Brent finally gave Dad a break, so he got a chance to play with the kids outside for a while. Sophie loves the slide!

Monday night Brent and I took the kids to the drive-in movie theater. Honestly, I thought this was going to be the PERFECT plan--the movie didn't start until 9:05pm...the kids don't mind sleeping in the car...if they needed to be changed, fed or loved, we were right there in the car with them...IT WAS NOT A GOOD EXPERIENCE. I didn't factor in the HEAT (it was warm so we needed to either have the windows/doors open or sit outside on the lawn chairs). Sophie didn't want to sleep, so she sat outside with us and ate popcorn. She got tired of that and wanted to run around in the dark, and SCREAMED when we tried to stop her. Finally we gave up and left. We're definitely going to try this again, though--now I know what to pack and consider for next time. You have to give us credit for trying, though!! :-)

Wiiiiiiiiiiii!

We finally decided what we wanted to get each other for Mother's Day and Father's Day....we got a Nintendo Wii! (Wait...side note...let me be honest here. WE didn't decide this...Brent decided that I "needed" one for Mother's Day, and I found out by seeing the debit on our banking site. I thought our debit card had been stolen, had a COW, and about bit Brent's head off when I found out it was him...but it's all good now.) We are having the most fun with it!! We also got the Wii Fit program that goes with it. If you haven't seen these yet, it's a device that looks like a scale, and you can play balancing games, do step aerobics, weigh yourself (eek!). It's the coolest thing.

Sophie has a new word...."NO!" I knew it was coming sooner or later, but she certainly uses it regularly now. Often it's accompanied by kicking or throwing herself on the ground. Do boys go through such a "drama" stage? I swear...she's quite the drama queen. She is learning a lot of other words, too--flower (pronounced "hour"), apple, and nine. If you count slowly to ten, she'll yell out "nine!" after you say eight. I'm not sure why she picked that number to remember, but it seems to be her favorite. Brent swears that it's because "nein" is the German word for "no." :-)

Dad and Louise will be here tonight! I'll try to get some good pictures!

Haircuts!

The boys got their first haircuts last night! They did pretty well with it--I'm sure it was tickling them, because they were really squirmy. They have traditional "little boy" cuts, but she styled them in mohawks for pictures. Ha!! It was so cute that I might have to do that for an outing. :-)



The stylist saved some of their hair and put them in baggies along with a "first haircut" certificate with their names and date for their baby books. What a nice touch!!

Happy Anniversary Dad & Louise!!!

Dad and Louise are celebrating their 17th wedding anniversary today--HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

We are so sad to see River Festival come to an end! Saturday morning was the Walkfest, and the kids and I walked without Brent since his doctor told him to take it easy. We met up with my friend Vonda and two of her friends, and had a great time! They are the nicest gals--I'm really glad I went. Here we are in our color-coordinated outfits for the walk:

While we were at the walk, Brent's dad came over to mow the grass (Brent "supervised"!)--Thanks, Jerry! I offered to do it for Brent, but thank goodness he didn't take me up on it. :-) After a lunch at Oasis (GREAT burgers and fries), we came back and Sophie played on her outdoor toys:

I worked for a while this morning (trying to make up for all of my missed time lately from Brent's appointments), then we went to a first birthday party for our friends Ian & Teresa's son Joseph. Joey loved the boys and the boys thought he was so funny! Teresa and I decided that Joey is a good babysitter. :-)

We ate grilled burgers and hot dogs, and Sophie played on the playground. The boys rolled around on a quilt and had a picnic of their own.

THEN came cake...a very sleepy Joey did NOT want anything to do with that cake! I wonder if he ate any after his nap? Here he is with his mommy, and if you look really close on the second picture, you'll see a white dot on his tongue. It's a candy decoration stuck to his tongue! Isn't he the cutest?!

OFFICIALLY sick of doctor visits and hospitals...

Brent woke up on Thursday morning feeling dizzy and lightheaded. We called his doctor and went in for an appointment and lab work. The lab work came back indicating that he might have a blood clot in his lung--SCARY! Kelly came to stay with the kids (THANKS, Kelly) and we went to the hospital right away for a CT scan.

The scan revealed that it was NOT a blood clot (thank God!!), but he has a condition called pericarditis. The pericardium is the lining around our hearts that acts as a lubricating "sleeve" that separates our heart and lungs. His lining is inflamed, and fluid has collected around the heart. There are many causes, but most of the time the cause is unknown. We met with a cardiologist this morning, and he believes that Brent picked up a respiratory virus that settled into that area for some reason. He got some medicine and was told to take it easy for the next 10 days--no yard work, no exercise, nothing strenuous at all. We go back to see the cardiologist after 10 days. He's feeling good, and I know he's happy to finally put a name to this feeling he's been having! The symptoms of pericarditis are exactly what he's been experiencing, and include extreme chest pain (that mimics a heart attack) and shortness of breath.

Now an update on the kids: The RSV, pertussis, parainfluenza and some of the blood work came back, and everything in those looks great. They don't show any infection. We're still waiting on the allergy blood results, which will tell us if they have allergies to milk or soy (since those often present themselves as respiratory issues). The boys seem to be feeling a lot better, though, and are finally smiling and laughing again. They HATE, HATE, HATE their breathing treatments, and shriek the entire time. I've heard that's almost better, since they take such big breaths while they're having a fit and get deep breaths of the medicine. It's torture to hear them so mad, though!!

Doctor again today

***Note: Be sure to scroll down through the last few posts--I posted several days' worth to the blog today!***

I'm taking the boys back to the doctor this morning to check on their breathing. They're still really congested, and are waking up through the night crying. I want her to check their ears for ear infections, and to tell me if I need to start their breathing treatments again. Keep your fingers crossed that Sophie is on good behavior! Brent's working today, so I'm on my own for this outing. I'll edit this post later to add the results of the doctor's appointment.
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WOW--NOT a good doctor's appointment. I went in thinking she'd check their ears and listen to their chests, and they ended up with 4 shots each, chest x-rays and blood drawn from both arms (they had trouble finding their itty bitty veins in their itty bitty arms!). I felt awful for them--they were NOT happy guys. The doctor is checking for milk & soy allergies, along with some other allergies. They're also back on breathing treatments. She prescribed another medicine to use in their nebulizer, on top of the one they were already taking. They weren't fans of the breathing treatments to begin with, and are really unhappy sitting through two in a row! I'm anxious to get the results of the x-rays and blood work. I'll let you know.

Happy Mother's Day!

What a difference a year makes! This time last year I was pregnant with the boys. That seems like eons ago!

We started the day off by going to church. It was a great sermon geared for moms. The message was to stay focused on the end goal, and not to get so overwhelmed by the day-to-day chores. After church, we went to Old Chicago (my favorite!) for lunch. The kids were NOT on their best behavior, and lunch ended with us throwing our meals in to-go boxes and heading home.

After the kids took naps, we loaded up the bike trailers and headed to the park to feed the ducks. The boys were NOT interested--they screamed whenever the bikes weren't moving. Their shrieking chased off most of the ducks!


Sophie didn't get the concept of feeding the bread to the ducks...she ATE the bread and CHASED the ducks. This big white goose kept following her around hissing at her--I'm sure it was wondering why she wasn't feeding it. I was afraid it was going to peck a piece of bread right out of her mouth!

We had a Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner, and root beer floats (my new favorite snack!) for dessert.
Here are some pictures of the beautiful roses and gardening book my friend Becky gave me for Mother's Day. The book is for the kids and I to do fun gardening projects--it has the coolest ideas! Here's a copy of one of the pages that made me laugh...you know this project won't be showing up in this arachnophobe's garden. :-)

River Run

Today was the River Run! We loaded up the triple stroller and walked the 2-mile race with Brent's dad, Jerry, and Pat.

Everyone gets a medal for finishing, and Sophie loved hers. See her kissing the cat?! I told you she was a kissing bandit...

The River Festival has officially begun!

This is one of our favorite times of year! The River Festival runs for a week, and tonight it kicked off with the parade. We stopped by Subway and grabbed a picnic dinner, then set up our blanket and chairs downtown. Our friends Karie and Doug came with their kids, too. Sophie got a little spooked by the loud noises, but the boys did great!

EJ / Trip to the Greenhouse

Our friend Roger lost his mom this week. EJ was a wonderful person who was always very kind to me and my family. Our condolences to Roger, Kelly, Brandon & Aaron--I know this has been a hard week. The funeral is tomorrow at the Botanica. (***note added on Friday--the service was BEAUTIFUL. It was an outdoor service, and the weather was perfect. The minister had a great message about EJ's stamina and endurance, and encouraged others to tell stories about EJ's life. EJ's motto was "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade", so they had lemonade and root beer floats after the service! It was a neat way to celebrate her life and end the gathering on a celebratory note.***)

We went to Little River Greenhouse (Becky & Jim's) to get a plant for Roger. Sophie behaved really well! She's become quite the "kissing bandit", though. A little boy came in the door, and she ran over to him and tried to give him a kiss. :-) I wish I had taken my camera with me--the plants at the greenhouse are so pretty. I'll remember it on our next trip.

Jessicas x 2

I've already told you about our friend Jessica from church that brings us a meal every week. Today we were blessed with another Jessica's generosity! Our friend that lives down the street (Ellie's mom) brought us a wonderful manicotti dinner tonight! These Jessicas REALLY know how to cook--they inspire me! WHAT A TREAT!

Birthdays!

Wow--we have a lot of people to celebrate this week!

Happy Birthday Carrie!
Happy Birthday Chris!
Happy Birthday Lori!
Happy Birthday Ronda (the big 50!!)!
Happy Birthday Leslie!

Don't feed the animals...

Sophie was "helping" put the boys to bed--Graham was peeking over the bumper pad at her, so she'd pull it down so he could see her more easily. It was sweet to watch them smile at each other! Blake was too busy spinning in circles to notice the happenings with his crib neighbor. They are such busy boys!

Graham has ANOTHER tooth! For those of you keeping score, that's Graham: 4, Blake: 0. Sophie and Blake are so similar, and Sophie didn't get her first tooth until really late. Apparently Blake is following in sister's footsteps!

We got to see Teresa and her boys today--I should have taken a picture of all of them together! Sophie loved having the boys around, Jacob is awesome at entertaining her. With two little siblings of his own, he's had lots of practice!

We had our frozen supper club exchange tonight. Have I explained what that is? Each of us makes several casseroles, then we get together once a month and exchange them. That way we all have a variety of meals to have in our freezers to cook throughout the month. I love this--it is such a lifesaver for busy schedules!

I just learned of a consignment sale in town that's coming up at the end of July. It's Mulberry Bush Consignment, and my friend Joanna operates it. They consign all seasons of clothing (since all of us moms are always shopping for seasons ahead!). If you're interested, the website is http://www.mbcsale.com/. I told her I'd spread the word. :-)

Happy Monday!

Happy (late) May Day!

Brent spent all day Thursday and Friday putting together the swingset--it looks fantastic!


You can't see the slide very well, but there's a slide off to the right. It's really neat! The kids are going to LOVE this!

As promised, here are some pictures of the boys holding their own bottles! Here's a picture of them eating their cereal, too (notice the cat watching the boys)--Blake is NOT a fan of cereal...

Sophie is taking a swimming class, and Brent was able to go last week. I got some pictures of them in the pool. She LOVES the water!!