February

February has been pretty awesome so far.  First of a couple things I don't want to forget:

1.  The boys were saying what they want to do when they grow up.  Liam said "I want to be an X-ray doctor so I can work with mom"  and it was the best. He wants to work with his momma!  Colin said he wants to be a police officer.

2.  Amelia may be our first kiddo to have an attachment to a blanket.  When she wakes up in the she has to have her blanket just for a few minutes and it is the cutest.

Recently Wal-Mart was having some pretty awesome clearance on toys and one day the boys and I came home with 50 mini Thomas the trains!  They were pretty proud of putting them all together when we got home. 

Amelia is a super climber such as a few weeks ago she was caught on the table while I was helping the boys...

...later in the bathroom sink...

...and even after that she was found on the kitchen counter!  She is impossible to keep up with!!

The first week of February we bought a swing set from our neighbors across the way.  This is what is looked like in the beginning.  We had to do some sanding, primer, wood seal, and some fresh paint and now it looks awesome and the kids LOVE it!  It has swings, monkey bars, slide, house, sand box, and rock wall.  It has been great!

Here are some pictures of the kiddos helping grandpa put the monkey bars back together.

We took them off to spray paint them since they were pretty faded.

Amelia sat down and ate some snacks

We took apart quite a bit of it because it was too cold outside to put the sealant stuff on so we did it all in the garage.   It was a good 3 week project but it is complete and eventually I'll get a final picture.

Here is how this gal has been riding her bike lately

One day, while we were working on the swing set, the boys noticed the ice that formed in the water table.  So Chris took the ice out and the boys played with it in the grass.

They pretended to ice skate on it and took a few falls, ha!

The weather got pretty warm and we filled the sand box up for the kids.  They enjoyed it.

T-ball has started!  Colin didn't really want to participate at all at his first practice.

He pretty much sat like this for most of the time

Finally I convinced him to go hit the ball

He still got a little frustrated

but he did hit it and then went right back to sitting on the side lines,  Luckily it has gotten better each practice since then!

This little gal likes to sit like so on the bath tub while I get ready for my day.  She is awesome

She also decided to wear her sunglasses upside down and play outside on the swing set.  She was having a great time.

Next up our trip to Jerome!

Sickness

Last weekend I got home in the evening from a volleyball tournament and when I arrived Chris said I should listen to Colin's lungs because he had a pretty terrible cough.  I did and he had a little wheezing in his right lung, which he has had in the past when he gets sick, so I didn't worry too much about it.  Sunday came and Colin was running around but had terrible cough and little fever so I told Chris we'd run him to the doc the following day and make sure he didn't have strep again.  Monday I met Chris and Colin at doctors office and when I walked into room, Colin was breathing pretty heavily and Dr. Lafredo said after listening he sounded like he had pneumonia! Ahhhh!!!  She started him on an antibiotic and albuterol treatments.  She gave him a breathing treatment in the office and it didn't really do anything and his oxygen level was 91%.  I went back to work and just figured all would be okay.  Then Monday night I gave him his breathing treatment and he was breathing rapidly but I thought "I'll put him to bed and see if it slows down."  Well, it did not so I told Chris we should go to ER because he was making me nervous.  Once we got there he had a fever also.  They gave him triple the dose of a breathing treatment, some motrin, and did a chest x-ray confirming that he definitely had pneumonia.  He was oxygen level was 89% even after the treatments and the doc felt we could go home unless we wanted to be admitted.  He was leery of having us stay due to all the other nasty bugs floating around.  I asked what he would do in our situation and his response was "I don't have kids and well I'm a doctor" ha!  Anyway we brought him home and he seemed to be doing okay Tuesday and Wednesday but I was giving him breathing treatments every 2-4 hours.  He wasn't wheezing as much but had a lot of crackles (fluid) in left lung and by early (3am) Thursday it was taking over his whole left lung.  We had a follow-up that morning with the doctor and she said that she was going to put him on another antibiotic "which usually does well with ASTHMA kids" and some prednisone.   She has thrown the word asthma around before and so have some of the providers at the urgent care but no one has officially diagnosed him with it due to his age.  I asked her if we were officially diagnosing him with asthma and if so shouldn't I be carrying an inhaler around.  She said yes, much to my disappointment, and also wrote a prescription for a rescue inhaler.  I am still hopeful that he will outgrow it.  I have had this fear for a while even when he was a little baby because he had eczema pretty bad and I had read some articles that related to eczema and asthma.  Anyway, I am crossing my fingers!  

We left the doc's office and picked up all of Colin's prescriptions came home and gave him all his medications. He has cried practically every time we've given him the prednisone because it is so gross and even couldn't help but spit it out yesterday.  He really didn't mean to it was just his gag reflex.  By Friday Colin was feeling better and his breathing treatment frequency lessened!!  I also had an appt at the chiropractor and badly needed to hit the grocery store.  I loaded all the kids just as Tim pulled up.  I thought "oh good I'll have him watch the two little ones and I'll take Liam with me"  WRONG.  Colin was SO upset at that suggestion and started bawling.  He was so tired of being cooped up in the house.  Tim ended up going with me and driving the kids around while I was at my appt., and then went to the grocery store with me so I could be as fast as possible, and lastly we hit up Hastings so the kids could pick out a book.  

The Hastings trip came as a side trip to make Liam happy because he was all upset when I got back into the car.  I guess while Tim was driving them around he mentioned something about a great grandpa that Liam hadn't met, and Liam being inquisitive asked why and then the subject of death came up.  Liam asked Grandpa if everyone in Kingman dies and Grandpa attempted to recover by saying when they get really really old.  Anyway, he hasn't talked about it again and he wanted to go to the bookstore which helped him forget about it all at the moment.

By now Colin is doing much better and his left lung is clear at this time but he still has a little wheezing in right lung.  But, we have gone 24 hours between breathing treatments so I hope that he has kicked this pneumonia's bottom!  We have another follow-up this Thursday. 

Of course as Colin is feeling better Liam had the croup cough Friday night and today (Sunday) he started with a fever.  I am just hoping he recovers quickly (as he usually does) and my kiddos can all just be and stay HEALTHY!!

Here is our sweet boy getting a breathing treatment Monday night before the ER visit.  He does really well with them.  He gets impatient unless we read or he has a show to watch but overall he doesn't fight it.

and our sweet tired boy at the ER.  He completely crashed during his treatment.

Here is to a Healthier 2016, starting February 1st!

15 Months

It's official our sweet Amelia is 15 months old.  She is a sweet, sassy, feisty, loving, and adorable baby.   She just had her 15 month appointment she measured 31 inches and weighed 23.11 lbs.  She wears 18-24 month old outfits and a size 5 shoe and occasionally a 6. 

Amelia continues to keep us on our toes.  She climbs on everything and there have been days where I have found her on top of counters.  She loves to go outside and will retrieve her shoes specifically so we can put them on her so she can go out.  Today she was shoveling dirt and putting it on her pants and shoes, ha!  She still isn't super into toys but she does enjoy pushing her shopping cart and ride-on toy, and will throw and chase a bouncy ball.  She recently loves to carry her blanket around for a little bit after she wakes up and then ditches somewhere in the house.

Amelia continues to be a fantastic eater.  Chris calls her a grizzly bear because she eats tons of berries and every type of berry.  She prefers berries over all other food but she will eat all other food including, yogurt, avocados, beans, all meats, cheese, etc.  Basically, there isn't much she doesn't like.   One of her favorite things is climbing into her chair and strapping herself in to get ready to eat.  She will also do it periodically throughout the day just to practice with the straps and buckles.

One of Amelia's favorite words is "Whoa!"  It is hilarious, she will get excited about something or just notice something and will bust out a "Whoa!"  She also says mama, dada, hi, here, and nose.  She also distinguishes Liam and Colin but I am not sure how to write down how she says it.  Amelia has also discovered the word "No."  It has been quite interesting and if she doesn't want to do something she has no qualms saying NO and she even shakes her head with it.  I am pretty sure she is our earliest no user.

She has been weaned off the bottle since our trip to Disneyland and had no problems doing so.  She still uses a pacifier at nap and bedtime, and occasionally tries to sneak into her room and grab one from her crib during the day (if it's not within reach she has learned to pull the blanket through the bars to try to get the pacifier out or at least close enough to grab when she sticks her arm through).  When one of us sees she has snuck out a pacifier we tell her to go put it away and she will sometimes do so, or she will just yank it out of her mouth and chuck it to the floor and go about her business.  She has 12 teeth and has picked up a little habit of biting.  We are trying to get her to stop but she seems to get Colin with her teeth the most.  She also makes this ridiculous silly/scrunchy face and shows her teeth as to taunt you.  She really does have a very outgoing personality.

She loves to play with her brothers and is always cuddly after her naps which she takes one per day but still two on occasion.  A strong indication she has decided a particular nap is over is that she will eagerly hand you her pacifier when you approach the crib if she is standing up in her crib and talking/fussing/crying/screaming/wailing. 

She even will watch TV for maybe five minutes before she becomes completely uninterested.

We LOVE this little lady! Happy 15 months!

Hot Air Balloon Festival

First up a few are things I need to jot down.

1. A while ago the kids and I were eating breakfast when Liam said "We should get a dog."  Then he turned to Colin and said "Colin what should we name the dog?"  Before he even let him answer Liam said "We should name him Barkley" Ha.  I laughed because I just don't see a dog in the picture too soon.

2. Just after Christmas we had a strand of lights that fell down in the window, so I decided to just take them down.  Colin got so upset when he realized I wasn't going to put them back up.  I explained that Christmas was over and he started crying and said "But it didn't even snow!"   Then later he said he wanted to move somewhere cold, ha.  Once I started taking out Christmas stuff a few days later.  Colin turned to me and said that when it snows we should put it back up.  He definitely associates Christmas with snow!

Once again we went to Havasu on Friday night and stayed in Great Grandma's condo so we could get up bright and early to see the balloons.

Here are the kiddos on GG balcony.

Another view from the balcony

Driving over the London Bridge.

Kiddos on arrival to Balloon Festival

We started out at the food trucks and grabbed some donuts and a breakfast burrito.

Then we watched some of the bigger balloons get set up.

and did a lot of running around in the grass

Colin was rolling around somewhere during this one

Then we walked into a balloon which the kids thought was pretty neat.

My little flowers

Did I mention it was this gal's 15 month birthday!

Colin wanted to get his face painted and he didn't make it easy because he wanted spiderman, ha!  Emily tried to help out since the girl was really struggling.  Colin was happy with the results.

Then all three kids jumped on a bed in the kid's play area.

Finally it was time for some rides. First up was this dragon rollercoaster.  Liam was SO excited to be in the front.

Colin did well the first 4 times around but then he started crying.  Luckily the guys stopped it and let him off and continued the ride.  Once Colin was off he was calm and said he just got a little scared but wanted to get back on, ha!  I told him he wouldn't be able to get on again but when Liam was done he could pick the next ride.

Car ride!  They did this one twice.

Amelia and i walked around a little in hopes of me getting a 15 month photo shoot in.  She wasn't all that cooperative and she is difficult to keep up with.

She is a sweet gal

We love her

I still can't believe she is 15 months!

Then we all went to watch the dog show.  Basically a bunch of different dogs doing cool tricks.

Colin was pretty into it

Amelia was exhausted.

When we left we went to Red Robin and then home.  We all had a great time.  I think I said this last year but if I remember we are going to start out standing on the London Bridge I think that is where the best view is.  Next up Amelia's 15 month post!!

Snow Day in the Hualapais

This little lady likes to climb up into her brothers' chairs after meals and eat their leftovers.  On this particular day it was cereal.

She is always very proud of herself

I failed to post the picture of the gifts the boys made us.  Here they are and we LOVED them.

Liam finally had his 5 year old check up on Dec. 31st.  During the visit I figured we should get everyone's flu vaccines done.  Welp, I was a day late and a dollar short.  Colin became sick on Jan 2nd with a high fever and was just flat out miserable!  I was at volleyball and told Chris to take him to urgent care.  Sure enough he tested positive for influenza.  Then two days later Liam had a fever, so we took him in, too.  He came up negative but they wanted to cover him with meds since he was exposed to Colin.  Then the next day Amelia started with a fever.  I took her into the pediatrician and she tested positive also, sigh.  Dr. Lafredo asked a few questions as to where we had traveled because Amelia was her first positive swab in her office, ha! Go figure.  Anyway, we had some lazy days and here are these two watching Frozen together.

Everyone recovered fairly quickly except Colin.  The poor guy took a little longer and was miserable a couple of days longer.  The boys went back to school eventually and Amelia was looking cute when we dropped them off.

Such a cutie

Love this little lady

Saturday, Jan 9th we took the kids to the Hualapais to play in the snow and we had a great time.  Liam was super pumped at first and jumped right in tubing down the hills.

Amelia was not thrilled at all with the snow, so Grandma Snay mainly held her.

Liam cruising down the hill

He was a happy little guy.

Amelia went down once with her daddy and had a huge smile on her face until the snow touched her face then she was not happy.

Colin had a great time sledding too but he enjoyed eating snow, and playing around in it more.

Me and my boys

My sweet baby girl.  She and I had a little cuddle time when Grandma took a turn sledding.

Eating snow

Throwing a snowball at me

Making snow angels

He was very happy

Liam was off in the shade after a while, playing and eating snow when he became cold and DONE.  He started crying because he was so cold, poor fella.  My mom took a picture for us and we headed back to the car to get the boys dry and warm.

Here is how they traveled

It was a fun for them.

Amelia decided that she wanted to walk once we were heading back to the car

My mom caught this cute picture for me.  We had her legs tied up in shopping bags in hopes to keep her dry, ha!

Chris, Amelia, and me

Grandma and Grandpa

Once we got to the car I got Liam changed and dried off.  My dad had the heater running full blast in the truck and then I heard Colin crying a little too!  I guess when Chris took off his very wet, cold pants off he realized just how cold he was.  So we had two tired and cold boys but they did have a blast and maybe if I find some super cheap snowsuits I will buy them for next year. Since we get to play in the snow only once a year around these parts.

Later that day these boys played outside while Chris was feeling not so well.  They love their star wars jackets.

Yoda and R2-D2

Then that evening we went to eat with G&G Casson at Sakura.  It was quite a lovely day!