Merry Christmas 2013!

Another year in the books and another family blog book for us!  And what a year it has been!  From a family of four to a family of five and all the trials, tears and blessings in between, 2013 has been an incredible year!

Jed has been such an inspiration and lesson for all of us. He’s reminded us all never to take life for granted, he’s shown us the good in people through an outpour of love, support and prayers, and most importantly, he’s taught us the true meaning of Letting Go and Letting God. He’s tested our faith and ultimately he’s strengthened it by demonstrating in plain sight that miracles do in fact happen!

Grammy & Papa stopped by before the kids headed out with Blaine to the Morris’ annual soup exchange on Christmas Eve.  Jed & I stayed back and did some last minute Christmas preparations!

Santa came!! Still not sure how he fits it all in his sleigh! Santa brought Grayson his very own keyboard and Colbie a bundle of princess dresses with a dress up storage rack.  He also managed to stay up till three in the morning and build this adorable playhouse for the kids!

Best Christmas gift by far was seeing this little guy’s face after taking his tubes off the day after Christmas!  We are ALL in better moods being able to walk around the house with Jed now and not be attached to a leash or tripping over lines all the time.  He is such a little miracle and we are still just amazed at how well he has done and continues to do.

Playing at Grammy & Papa’s at Christmas dinner.

In addition to smiling, Jed is getting very strong and mobile and focusing on people and things a lot more.  This is a picture of his oxygen saturation AFTER (yes, after!) being taken off oxygen the other day!

This smiley dude continues to amaze us and exhaust us all at the same time!  Blaine & were laughing the other night saying “I thought the third child was supposed to be the easiest & the most laid back.”  Ha!  I didn’t really know what colic meant till we had a baby that absolutely was.  Like our cardiologist said, if someone could invent a cure for this condition, he/she would absolutely be a millionaire!  For the past several weeks now, Jed has a certain time of day at least 5 nights a week from about 6-10 when he is pretty much inconsolable. He doesn’t like his swing, doesn’t like his bouncer or pretty much any holding position during this time.  We can get him to doze off or at least calm down for about 20-30 minutes and then it’s back to screaming & crying again.  Lots of walking, bouncing, swaying, singing and probably some cussing going on during these hours!  Don’t pay us a visit during this time…. or second thought, do and we may give you a job!  All I have to say is thank God for my husband who takes turns with me. In the evenings, we alternate between Jed duty or older kid duty, and as precious as this little angel is, taking care of the older two is a much easier task this time of day.  I don’t know how single parents do it because you honestly reach a point where you have to put the baby down, take a deep breath and walk away. 

How could you possibly walk away from this little cutie pie, right?!  I’m such a mean Mommy!  Maybe it’s the lack of sleep!  Jed still doesn’t have much of a sleeping & eating routine either and therefore, neither do I :(  Having done this twice before though, I’m not really pushing the issue and know that it will come in time.  I’m up at least two, sometimes three or four times a night with him, which is all fine and dandy if he would always go right back to sleep.  The majority of the time he does let me put him back down, but usually around 4:30/5 he thinks it’s time to get up for the day & play! 

Speaking of play, the kids have been having lots of fun playing with all their new Christmas toys and Colbie especially loves having her big bro around to play while he’s on break from school.  Here they are trying out their new skates from Mama & Dada.  It was painful to watch!  Not sure why I didn’t put helmets on them :/

Snuggles with Dada and here are the kids after making a disaster zone in our closet & playing dress up like Mama & Dada!  I really hope I don’t look like this when I go out!

Our wildly cute and colicky little miracle!

Here’s to happy, healthy & blessed 2014!

Tis the Season!

Can’t believe Christmas is tomorrow!  Another year almost come and gone.  It’s been such a fun, hectic and busy month, I feel like I blinked and Christmas Eve was here.  You’d think with a new baby we would allow ourselves to pass on some of these functions, but with two little kids full of the Christmas spirit, it’s hard to say no. 

It seems like we’ve had some event or dinner every day & night for several days now.  The kids got to celebrate Christmas early with Buddy & Susan Sunday night.  Monday night they got to go Christmas caroling honky-tonk style on a trailer bed of hay with their cousins.  It actually looked super cute and the kids of course had a lot of fun.  Tonight is the Morris Family’s annual soup exchange party.  Then tomorrow is Christmas!  So much fun and yet, I am so looking forward to a day where we have absolutely nothing planned!

We took the kids to Santa’s village last Saturday to meet the “real” Santa (above)! Big booboo on our part!  Grayson is so intuitive and cautious and questions everything now, so we have to be very careful not to ruin the magic of Santa.  Well, with Santa pretty much being everywhere these days, he’s figured out that that just can’t be when he needs to be busy at the North Pole making toys.  So we’ve explained to him that Santa has lots of “helpers,” but that once a year he makes his way to Yuma, Arizona to Santa’s Village to meet the kids.  Well this was all well and fine until after their picture, Santa pulls a switch-a-roo on us and here comes the “real” santa all dressed in fur, whom Grayson of course recognizes from the previous two years.  Oooops!  “You’re right Grayson, that’s the REAL Santa, the first one must have been one of Santa’s helpers!”  He then wanted to go and talk to the 2nd REAL Santa about what he wanted for Christmas, so I think we are still ok…. for now! Phew!

Our church had a big Christmas bash at the beginning of the month.  Blaine has been in charge of arranging snow for sledding for the past two years.  Who would have known you can grow snow in Yuma! Here are the kids before the Christmas bash and also at their first Nutcracker.  We went to see little Miss Molly Mac as an adorable little lambie!

Blaine & I got to have a little date night in at Pasquinelli’s annual Christmas party, thanks to my parents/on call baby-sitters!  Tall has also been very active in our house since the day after Thanksgiving, clowning around & making messes in the bathroom, fridge and pantry, but also leaving occasional gifts and notes for the kids!

I swore I wasn’t going to do any baking this year and somehow found myself making at least a dozen cookies a day.  I guess deep down I really like to bake.  Colbie has been my little helper in the kitchen, licking spoons and making more of a mess for me.  We even made her specially requested “Barney cookies.”  Totally didn’t look like Barney, but they were purple, yummy & she approved!

And here are my two batman boys!  I actually bought this onsie for Jed thinking for sure I would have had him by Halloween and he could match his brother.  And here is Miss Colbie giving one of her famous, death grip hugs!  Poor baby Jed!

We adopted 3 angels again this year.  Before and after we delivered the toys to the fire department.  Colbie clown decided her forehead was the best place for her Fire Department sticker.

Love when your kids pass out before you have to put up with the bedtime fight!

Grayson had his school program last week. He was one of the sheep.  He also seems to have picked up a new girlfriend!  Little flirt holding little snazzy skirt’s hand!

Sister re-claiming her brother in the classroom!  Kellan & Stacy had there baby on the 13th… Brody Michael.  Here are the cousins meeting for the first time.  I see trouble!!

We had another follow up appointment in Phoenix last week with the cardiologist and received the best news of all!  Jed’s doctor is very pleased with his sats, his growth and development and has given us the green light to take him off the oxygen! NO MORE TUBES!  He said to give him a week on the minimal flow and then he said Christmas day, give the little guy a gift!  And what a gift that will be!  Of course, we will be monitoring him a little more closely, but as long as his oxygen levels stay above 90, doctor is happy and we are happy!! 

Here is our little monkey butt giving us a hooray during his ekg!

Now that’s something to smile about!!!  He also gave us his first real smiles over the weekend :)

With flu season in full force, we are still choosing to keep the little guy home as much as possible.  Aside from being ridiculously outrageous, we followed our doctors orders and got him the Synagis vaccine last week.  This will hopefully boost his immunity and protect him from RSV.   So although our little Jedi may not get to participate in all the holiday outings, it is all worth it because by this time next year, he will be strong, healthy & ready to party!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Card Pictures

We had some pictures taken just before we left for Phoenix in October.  Wanted to get them up so they’re in our new book!