Our Christmas

Traveling, jet lag, geno's, lite rail, monorail, seattle center, pegasus, pancakes, santa pics, cheesecake factory, cinnamon rolls, polar express, parties, extended family, sugar, sugar and more sugar, presents, presents and more presents, zoo lights, snowball fights, carousel rides, children's museum, popcorn, shopping, sickness, seahawks game.

I think that pretty much sums it up.

I actually started writing this while we were in Seattle. But then the flu happened. So the blog wasn't high up on the list (it never is obviously). Emmory got sick at the very end of our trip to Seattle, and I did as well. When we got back to SC, Evan was coming down with it too. And then Mark. Thankfully Mark wasn't down too long, and thankfully I didn't have a fever because I had every other symptom but could still (barely) function. The boys were bad. I think Emmory's fever lasted 5 days and Evan's 7. Besides that and the congestion/coughing, they both had ear infections and Evan got conjunctivitis and threw up a few times. Neither of them slept well at night, I would leave one room and then the other would wake up. Evan was basically attached to me the whole week. When the fever would spike in the afternoon he would just sit in my arms and doze off and on and occasionally look at me and say "don't feel good mommy" or "my belly hurts". When he would wake up at night I would take him to the living room and sleep with him on the couch. A few memories I don't want to forget even though it was a rough time. Very reminiscent of having a newborn. Sleep deprived, feeling like the walls are closing in on you, and forgetting that there is actual normal life going on outside of your home. Yet despite the fact that it felt like things would never get back to normal, they did and now here we are in February! I am very thankful right now for my boys' health. That week was such a minor trial compared to what some families face on a daily basis.

Our flights this past trip were awesome!! This was the first time not traveling with a child under 2 and it makes a huge difference. The boys did so great, even on the way back when Emmory was sick. DVD player and games on the iPhone kept them occupied the whole time. In fact on our way to Seattle, we sat right behind another family who had two boys and they were having such a rough time, each of them threw up, and I just kept thinking "shouldn't this be us?" I felt so bad for those parents but they kept their cool amazingly well even when snarky comments were made from other passengers.

Kissing cousins

Christmas lights

Tonight we took the boys to a house nearby that goes all out for Christmas...the man uses four of his neighbors yards and pays their electric bill so he can put up all kinds of Christmas lights and other such things. They have popcorn and hot chocolate and music and a path you walk through to see everything. We had a great time and afterwards took a few pics of the boys. I tell ya, Evan turning two has been a great thing. I feel like I can *sort of* breathe now. There are now moments where they play together well instead of fighting constantly. Don't worry, there is still plenty of fighting (they are brothers), but there are times where there isn't. There are times where they get along and entertain each other! This is huge. I feel like we are coming out of the crazy-no concept of boundaries-have to follow them everywhere and can't ever leave them alone for even a second-one year old stage. Except it really starts before one for us because they started walking at 10 and 9 months. As soon as Emmory turned two and started to come out of that stage, Evan was crawling. And then walking (running) a few short months after that. So I feel like I have been in that stage for a very long time and I am very thankful to be coming out of it. And even though when they play together, it always involves a huge mess or something dare devil-ish...they are playing together!!! So I'll take it. They will always be boys, they will always be noisy, yelling, crashing things, banging things, wrestling, climbing and jumping off things, making messes, getting dirty, high-energy...but at least they can be that together now. And hopefully as Evan gets even older...those moments will turn into hours! (I can hope, right?).

Here is a good pic of them we got at the lights tonight. They started off sitting about five feet away from each other, so I told them to scoot closer and put their arms around each other, which Emmory took very seriously, and he tried to force Evans arm around him because Evan wouldn't do it himself.

Evan is two

 

It seems like I blinked my eye and then Evan was two. How did it happen so fast? Yet at the same time, the day he was born seems like ages ago. Things have changed SO much since then. I have changed so much since then. And I am still learning. A lot. Mainly I am learning about my depravity. But enough about that. The focus of this post is my little two year old. It still seems weird to say I have a two year old. No more babies in this house anymore (And that's the way we'd like to keep it). Instead we have a loud, talking (yelling) full-of-the-joy-of-life two year old. His smile is irresistible. His excitement is contagious. His stubbornness is maddening. There is a lot of fire and fight in this one. His adoration of his older brother is obvious. Copies everything he does and repeats everything he says (it just has to be of his own will...he cannot be bossed around). He is solid. He is strong. He loves animals and music. He sings along with me when I rock him and sing to him before bedtime. But don't mistake him for a softy. He holds his own against his brother. He likes to roughhouse. He likes to run and climb and jump and get dirty and play with trucks and push things around..basically anything boy. He is crazy...you just never know what he is going to do. He is very affectionate. He is always going up to kids at the park and kissing them. He especially likes babies. He gives the best hugs. He puts his arms around your neck and presses his cheek against yours. He is very friendly, always saying hi to people wherever we are. I've been told more than once by strangers that he would make a good politician. He says "frink" instead of drink", if you ask him why he did something he says, "because I am", if you call his name to talk to him because he is doing something he shouldn't he comes up to you and says, "Yeah? Uh-huh? Yeah?". He knows how to smile at me to get what he wants. He is so darn adorable yet can be so infuriating at the same time. Our lives would be incredibly boring right now if we hadn't been blessed with the gift of Evan. We love him deeply and he brings so much joy into our home. 

Birthday morning donuts!

Birthday lunch at chickfila

Checking out his present from his brother

His birthday cake.....thank you Costco!

Trying out his new bike

Playing with some presents

Disneyland!

Today is a day that I will never forget. Such a special memory and a rare opportunity. Mark and I got to take Emmory to California Adventure at Disneyland. I always cherish any time we both get to spend with just one child because it doesn't happen very often, but this was extra special because of where we got to go. And even though I am exhausted and just want to go to sleep, I am staying up to write this so I don't forget anything. Disneyland opened up the new Cars Land at their California Adventure park this summer, they recreated the town of radiator springs, and of course have rides and one of the coolest things is they have life size Lightning and Mater characters driving in the road and you can talk to them and get your picture taken with them. I was a little unsure of how Emmory was going to like all the rides...he's never been on any rides before and you just never know how they are going to react. Well Emmory really surprised me. He LOVED the rides and the faster, the better. I thought we would spend all our time on the small baby rides, but after we walked by the roller coaster in California Adventure, he kept insisting on wanting to ride it. It shoots you out at the beginning really fast and has a loop...I told him all this and he said "I wanna go upside down". Mark suggested we take him on another roller coaster that is milder, the goofy coaster, and see how he liked that first. Well to my surprise, he really liked it. He would giggle every time we went down a hill. It was so cute. Mark was going to take him on the big roller coaster, but he didn't meet the height requirement for it (he barely met the goofy coaster one, they ended up checking him 3 times). So we went on Soarin' over California and Grizzly River Run. And of course we went on all the rides at Carsland first thing, and we also went on the ferris wheel, the toy story shooting game ride, the bugs land rides, and the Little Mermaid ride at California Adventure. We ate lunch at Flo's Cafe in Carsland, had his picture taken with Lightning and Mater, and the big surprise of the night....we got to go into Disneyland too. We had gotten fast passes for the main ride in Carsland because that was the only ride with a really long line, we rode it first thing in the morning and waited 60 minutes, and got a fast pass for later in the day so he could ride it again, well when we went back to ride it, the ride was broken down, and they weren't letting anybody ride it or get in line. At that point, we were all exhausted, it was 6:00 and we had been going since the park opened at 10, and had planned that that would be our last ride of the night. Well Mark ended up talking to somebody about the ride being broken down, and they offered us tickets to get into Disneyland and fast passes for whatever rides we wanted. We were so tired, but the lady asked Emmory if he wanted to ride more rides, and all of the sudden he got a burst of energy and said "Yes!". So we ended up going into Disneyland with about an hour and a half left before it closed, and we rode Thunder Mountain railroad, Peter Pan, and Finding Nemo. Once we got back to the car and on the road, it took less than 10 minutes for the boy to pass out and we couldn't wake him to eat his food when we went through a drive-thru (In-n-Out, of course!). We had such a great time with him, and I am really thankful that he enjoyed it.
These are the things I jotted down that night, that I didn't want to forget about the trip (obviously I didn't end up finishing this post that night): His giggle on the goofy coaster, his patience in the lines, his thankfulness for food and drinks, his somber face as he was taking it all in, his excitement on the way to the park when he saw the Cars bus, picking out his souvenir, asking "what are we gonna do next?" as soon as we got off a ride.
Here are some pics from the day.

Our paradise...

This is our paradise for the next week. We have been lucky enough to have been provided with a trip to San Diego for the week with my family. The weather is perfect. The house is amazing. The picture really doesn't do it justice and doesn't capture the whole thing. There is a pool, hot tub, huge play structure and trampoline, putting green, outdoor tv and lounge area. We haven't even left the house yet. But the beach, Cars land @ California Adventure, and the San Diego Zoo await us as well. The boys are sharing a room. Hasn't worked out well so far, but hopefully we will see improvement. But even though Emmory ended up in our room last night and didn't sleep well, I don't care. We are getting a break. We are away from Greenville. It has been a long, hard last few months and I am so thankful to be able to get away. My heart has been heavy, and still is but it is lighter here. The ocean does wonders for the soul. We may never come back.

Evan

It has been an eventful last two days for Evan. It started Sunday night when he just wasn't acting like himself. We couldn't find anything wrong with him though no obvious symptoms. Monday morning was the same thing, not himself and his voice was starting to get hoarse, but that was all. Then he woke up early from his nap upset and he felt warm. I checked his temp and he had a fever. He was also still hoarse and he was breathing funny...almost sounded like wheezing. As the night went on he got pretty miserable we sat him at the table for dinner and he just sat there and cried and did not look good. I took him and rocked him and sat with him on the couch...we gave him some ibuprofen to see if that would help. Once it took effect it did help and he started to act more like himself again. He finally ate something right before bedtime and we put him down. He slept great except for one episode where he cried out and coughed a bit, but stopped on his own just as I was getting up to go to him. He slept pretty late that morning, but as the day progressed his breathing got louder and there were occasions where I could see and feel his chest sucking in when he breathed. I was definitely uneasy about it and called a nurse to see if he needed to come in. She said to bring him so we made an appt for the only time they had, 4:40. At this point I still wasn't sure what was going on I was thinking he was just wheezing because of chest congestion. I could always tell where he was around the house because I could hear him breathing. I put him down for his nap around 1:30 and he woke up early again, around 2:30. He was very upset, and when I got him up and held him his breathing was really bad. His chest was sucking in a huge amount, and his neck was sucking in as well. He was even louder than he was earlier. I got him calmed down, but he was still acting miserable and his breathing did not get better, it was very labored and loud. I called the dr to see if I could bring him in earlier than his appt because I didn't want to wait that long. Of course since I told them he was having difficulty breathing they said to bring him. I hurriedly put the boys in the car and off we went. Thankfully we didn't have to wait and the nurse checked his oxygen right away. She left and a minute later she and the dr opened the door and watched him for a minute. The dr looked at the nurse and said "yep" and then they closed the door. The dr came back shortly and did a quick check-up and told me that he had croup and that she needed to give him a breathing treatment and a steroid shot and that she wanted him to stay the night in the hospital so he could be closely watched. She said because he was having labored breathing and the sucking in of his neck even while he was not being active and not upset (which is what the nurse wanted her to see when they poked their heads in) that it was a bad case and she didn't want to send him home with us like that. I was not thrilled about the prospect of staying in the hospital and was honestly surprised she was sending us there because she is not an alarmist doctor, but I was glad when she said it was croup (although I felt a little stupid for not knowing that's what it was) because I knew enough about it to know that it's a common virus and not serious as long as you get treatment. So Evan got the breathing treatment (which was a nightmare trying to keep the mask on his face as he was crying and fighting it the whole time) and the shot, and we left the drs office and headed to the hospital. Mark met us at the drs office after I texted him and told him Evan was going to have to stay at the hospital. By the time Evan got all checked in his breathing was a whole lot better and he was acting like his normal self, although the nurse nicknamed him Darth Vader because of how he sounded. Our time at the hospital was pretty uneventful, the treatment Evan received at the drs office really helped a lot and he didn't need anything else done while we were there. After we had a "Curious George goes to the hospital" type night with evan and emmory running all over the place, eating at the chickfila in the cafeteria, going to see the helicopter, and watching Elmo in the room, Mark took emmory home and I stayed with Evan. Between the thing he had to wear on his toe continually coming off and beeping, getting his vitals checked, and him just not sleeping good, we didn't get much sleep at all, I think we got one stretch of 1hr 45 minutes and that was the longest. It really felt like when we were in the hospital together almost two years ago, when he was a newborn, except I think we got more sleep then! But thankfully he hasn't had any more problems breathing and we got to go home at lunch time. The steroid will last several days so the virus should be gone by then. He has been acting fine since we got home and will hopefully sleep good tonight.

Tonight

Tonight I laid with Emmory as I put him to bed, like usual. I told him a story. He interrupted me and told me how I should be telling it. When the story was over, we talked about my sin. I asked his forgiveness for getting angry at his brother earlier and not being a good example for him. He said, "You didn't do the right thing?" I said "no, I didn't". He said, "You didn't ask God for help?" I said, "no, I didn't. I tried to do it on my own, and I sinned because I'm a sinner". Then, he held my hand, tightly so I wouldn't leave. I laid there and tried to soak it all in. Then, after a while when I told him it was time for me to go, he put his arms around me and put his head on my face, and told me he wanted to snuggle. So of course, I had to lay there a little longer. These are the moments I never want to forget.

For my Dad

Since I am so forgetful and didn't get anything in the mail for my Dad in time for Father's Day, I thought I would write this post about some things I admire and love about my Dad.

1. His love for and commitment to my Mom. There has never been once in my life where I have ever doubted that commitment. They are going to be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary this September, which is pretty cool. Even cooler is the fact that we all get to celebrate together in San Diego :) My Dad has been an incredible example of sacrificial love towards my Mom. I see him sacrifice his own desires for hers continually.

2. His commitment to the church. My parents have faithfully served at the same church since I was born...and then some. That is really something especially in an age where people are going from church to church because they don't like the color of the building. I am thankful for his example of commitment to the most important thing we can be committed to on this earth.

3. His singing. Recently, we had a ladies fellowship for church and we each shared our favorite hymn and why it was our favorite. My favorite hymn is "Great is Thy Faithfulness", and the reason for that is that I can remember my Dad singing that one a lot growing up. One of the ladies told me I needed to tell my Dad that, so this is my opportunity to do that. That wasn't the only song he would sing, but that's the one that sticks in my head the most.

4. His generosity. My Dad is very careful with his money and has always wanted to find the good deal....but when it comes to using his money for others, he is one of the most generous people I know. There are countless things that we enjoy or have enjoyed because of him.

5. His love for my boys. I can't think of too many things I like seeing better than watching him interacting with my boys. He loves them, and they love him, and there is so much joy in seeing that. We will be going to Seattle this July and Emmory cannot wait, he asks me every day if it's July yet :) (And Evan will be thrilled when we are there, but of course is clueless at this point).

6. His strength and faith during trial. Over two years ago, after a routine physical, my Dad was found to have a higher than normal psa level, and it was confirmed that he had prostrate cancer. He had surgery to have the prostrate removed, everything seemed fine for a while, then last year his psa was elevated again, the cancer grew back, so he went through radiation and hormone therapy starting right before Christmas and ending in April. He had to drive to the clinic every single day during the week to get his radiation during that time. He stayed strong and steadfast, he was often singing hymns on the way to and from his appointments, and praying while having the radiation treatment done. Now, after having finished, his first psa test showed to be undetectable, to which we are so very thankful!

Of course, that is just brushing the surface. I was so very blessed to grow up with such a loving Dad who was committed to caring for our family, and I am still so very blessed to be able to enjoy spending time with him now that I have my own family.

I love you Dad!

Big boy bed

Well the day that I dreaded for so long has come, we moved Emmory to a big boy bed last weekend. I always said I wasn't going to move Emmory out of his crib until he started climbing out of it....well it never occurred to me that he would never try to get out, but that he would grow out of his crib instead. I was still reluctant to move him, but the fact that our boy is so tall meant he was constantly kicking the crib slats during the night and his legs would always be hanging out of them. So we decided to be on the lookout for a bed and when we found one we would do the switch. I suppose the fact that he is almost three means it was probably time anyways. Well, much to my surprise he is doing great with it. It hasn't affected his sleep at all and he doesn't get out of it! I'm starting to think that maybe the ones who climb out of their crib have a harder time staying in their bed than the ones who never attempted to get out. I'm sure that's not true across the board, but it does seem to be that way. It will be interesting to see what Evan does. He likes his crib and is often content to lay there for a while after he wakes up, but he is also a climber, which Emmory never really was. I frequently walk in the kitchen and find Evan either standing on a chair or on top of the table. I can't let that one out of my sight!
So we've got one big transition under our belt and I am very thankful for that! Here is Emmory's new bed...although he doesn't like his quilt or pillow on his bed, he just likes to sleep on top of the sheet (like he did in his crib) so it doesn't usually look like this :)

For real

It is midnight and I am posting on my blog. Yes, I should be going to sleep. But for some reason I'm not, and since apparently my two year old posted a blank post from my phone (his new favorite hobby is anything on my phone) I figured I would post a real one. Since I can't figure out how to write captions on the pictures when I post on my phone, I'll just say what they are now. Evan is obsessed with pretzels (or really just food in general) and seriously all day long he is taking my hand leading me into the kitchen to the pretzels saying "num-num-num" wanting me to give him one. He also is obsessed with whatever his brother is doing. I've said this before, but he just wants to do whatever Emmory is doing, and definitely learns a lot from him and imitates him. So when they go outside and Emmory plays in the dirt, Evan is right there with him. The last pic is from when I took them grocery shopping a few days ago. I almost forgot how hard those car carts are to push, because typically I shop without them...you know, so I can actually think while I shop and end up getting what I came for :) They did great though, just give them something to eat and they are happy. That's my wonderful parenting tip of the day :)

Seattle

We got back just over a week ago from our annual Seattle Christmas trip. It makes me tired just thinking about it! Not the actual part in Seattle, we were so thankful that the boys adjusted to the new time zone immediately this time, Evan did so great and we were spoiled with them sleeping until 8 most days and sometimes even 9. We have been really fortunate in the past to not have any big delays or cancellations when we have traveled, partly because a lot of times we have taken a non-stop out of Charlotte. But this year our flights both ways had delays, and other challenges as well. When we got to the airport to fly out to Seattle we found out our flight was delayed...but supposedly only 30 minutes. While we were waiting, Evan fell and split his lip really badly, there was blood everywhere, it was so gross I couldn't look at it (I am a bit squeamish). There were so many kind people there who jumped to help us, bringing us towels and ice, etc. So now we are sitting there with our plane supposedly taking off in an hour trying to decide what to do...his lip really looks like it needs to be stitched, people are telling us it needs to be stitched, Mark is considering sending Emmory and I off and staying with Evan. We decide to call the pediatrician before we made any decisions, and while I was on the phone with them Mark happened to run into a doctor who took a look at him and they both said the same thing, they don't usually stitch the lip unless the bleeding won't stop, which it had at that point. We were so relieved to hear that! However our flight ended up being even more delayed to where we were going to miss our connection, so we had to figure out what to do about that as well. We really wanted to get out that night since the next day was christmas eve and we had plans for that day, and thankfully they were able to put us on a different route with a few different airlines, we would just have to leave even later that night. So, after even more waiting we finally got on a plane, and after a layover in Chicago we made it to Seattle just before midnight (3am our time). Needless to say everybody was very tired, but we were so happy to have made it there! We had an awesome time in Seattle, it's always a joy to see my parents interact with the boys, and it was so great to see my nephew again, out of the hospital! (I flew out to see him in Nov. two weeks after he was born and when I left he was in the nicu, that was tough).
However, the flights back to Greenville weren't uneventful either. We were stuck in the Cleveland airport for a long time waiting for our flight to Greenville, and Evan got sick right before we left...we were told it was tonsillitis because his tonsils were bright red and there was some pus (eew) but we found out when we got back it was actually hand, foot and mouth disease, which I didn't know you could get more than once. So anyways, he was in a lot of pain, drooling like crazy and wouldn't eat hardly anything because he had huge blisters in his throat, and he also refused to take any medicine which made it even more difficult. So the trip back wasn't fun either, and Evan was waking up in the night pretty much inconsolable, and we were just exhausted. But God is faithful and rest came when we truly needed it.
Oh, and I can't forgot to mention how amazing Emmory did both travel days. Even with all the waiting, with the commotion of Evan getting hurt, traveling so late at night, he handled it all great and has turned into quite the little traveler. He just sits there and watches his DVD's and is just super excited about flying on a plane and seeing all the other planes. I am so glad we ended up getting on a plane that same day on the way out because it would have broke his heart to have had to go back home. I am so proud of that boy! And it was just so much fun to see all of his joy and excitement over flying and going to see "nama and papa".
Here are some pics I took on my phone while we were in Seattle.