Desperate times...

What a weekend! We celebrated Sammy (again) this weekend, this time with extended family and friends. Sammy requested a COW theme for his party (I love this), and of course we complied. I love that he chose something a little bit off-the-wall. He was super excited to have a few friends attend this year. His daycare buds are the BEST!

These four cuties have been going to the same daycare since birth. The boys LOVE these girls! They are the sweetest little things and I'm so glad they have such a special bond with one another.

Birthday bro hugs. :)

The cow piñata got a beating.

And today we broke out our pool for the first time this year. The boys had a blast! Sammy is so much braver than ever before with water and trying new things. I'm proud of him!

In all honesty, it has been rough going for our family. Elijah is really struggling again, the boys have not been getting along and it seems like there is often some sort of turmoil in our home. Potty issues have regressed hugely, which has all affected sleep and sanity. I know that better times are in store, but until then we are spent.

This will be another crazy week, including three doctor's appointments, three therapy appointments and swim lessons. I think I just need to accept the fact that life will always be nuts!

Elijah started seeing a child psychologist on Friday and I will take him to see her weekly for the next few months. She is AWESOME! Our hope is that she can help him learn some coping techniques that will lessen anxiety and frustration.

You can see from these photos that we had a few moments of summer-time peace today, thanks to Dan and his bubble-making.

Dan and I have had to get extreme recently. Behavior, potty and sass have been OUT of control, so we have taken away ALL technology until we see an improvement in behavior and sass. And every time there is a potty accident, we take a toy away from E. To earn one toy back he needs to use the toilet successfully all on his own. We are going to keep with this until we see improvement!

Early to bed tonight. Thanks for peeking in! Have a wonderful week!

Desperately seeking sanity

Today will never be forgotten in this mama's mind. It was one of my most challenging days being a mother. Elijah's behavior has escalated to a degree that I never imagined it could. I don't know how many more days like today I can stomach! Please pray for my sanity and for Elijah to feel peaceful! 

We have stayed very busy and that likely has been a contributing factor to the madness. On Friday the little boys and I were able to go to the zoo for a few hours, courtesy Hope Kids. We had fun!  We scurried around and saw as many animals as we could before bedtime crept up on us. Here are the boys in the "stinky jungle." :)

Dan made it home safely from DC on Tuesday night. The following pics are moments the boys asked me to capture and send to him while he was away. 

Elijah re-started OT/PT this week! We decided to take a break back in February when life was really overwhelming, so we will see how it goes starting back up. Both his OT and PT did testing on Wednesday to see how much service he will be able to receive. His PT called me back at the end of the session to show me Elijah's new accomplishment! He never would have done this a few months ago!

The boys and I have been loving on a few plants this spring. It has been fun watching them grow. Elijah and Sammy get so excited to water their flowers and veggies!

We made it to the pool for the first time early this week. Elijah is so much more capable in shallow water. I worry much less than I did last year about him wading around. He starts another round of swim lessons next week, so things will only improve!

And guess what?! Sammy did not even hesitate to remove his shirt and socks. WOW! He got into the pool right away. WOW! He even got upset when I told him to stay a little bit closer to me. In fact, I believe he said something like, "I'm going to swim away from you FOREVER!" See how that works out for you, Sammy!

Elijah has his first appointment tomorrow with a new psychologist. The timing is great. I/We need her more than ever. Thanks for checking in!

Time of transition

I am always amazed by how much bigger and older the boys look when I do these photo collages. Look at that growth!

Saying good-bye to second grade has been a bit tough! Elijah has come to me nearly in tears a handful of times in the past few days talking about how much he misses his teacher. This morning he told me that he was nervous for third grade. I've never heard him verbalize being nervous about anything. I think he really understands how great of a teacher she is and how much she did for him. Next year is going to be a change, just like every year is!

His teacher sent me an email about E's last day of school. He had forgotten a letter he had written for her at home and he was devastated. He cried and cried and after a few minutes he whizzed by her mumbling, "I know what I can do.." and ran to the scrap paper drawer. He composed the following letter right there in class:

Not only is this just the sweetest letter, but it is impressive that he thought of a solution to his problem! This is a new thing and we've seen it happen at home a few times in the past few weeks. Progress!

On the other hand, behavior this week has been challenging. Elijah has regressed on many levels and we are seeing behaviors that haven't been around since February. I don't think he has been sleeping very well, but I would need to have him wear the fitbit again to know for sure. I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but I'm going to give it another week or so before I start to worry. Maybe the end of the school year caught up with him and he's spent. Maybe the end of second grade is weighing on him.

I have also noticed another slight runny nose, which always interferes with sleep juuuust enough. Tonight he laid down on his pillow to go to sleep and immediately began wailing in pain! His ear is bothering him, which could be an ear infection. I gave him pain medicine and lightly pressed my hand on his ear until he fell asleep. I am PRAYING for that to just GO AWAY. No thank you!

I thought by this point in the year things would open up for us and I'd feel much more relaxed, but that is not happening. This week is going to be crazy. I'm ready...let's do this.

I'll wrap this post up with a few funnies!

Tonight as the boys were crawling into bed (before Elijah began screaming), Sammy informed me that he was NOT going to bed tonight. He would lock himself in the bathroom and hide in the cupboard. He would NEVER sleep again. He would get up in the middle of the night and LEAVE THIS HOUSE. I continued the routine as usual and acted like everything was wonderful. I asked if I could tuck him in and he said, "NO!" I asked if I could give him a hug and kiss and he began to look sad at the thought of that not happening, so he held one thumb pointing straight up and the other pointing to the side. He said, "Do you know what THIS means?" Ugh, I didn't want to know but said yes. "It means, 'Yeah, maybe.'" This boy! So clever. Later when I came in to deal with Elijah's ear, Sammy said, "Remember earlier when I said I didn't want you to ever snuggle with me again? I changed my mind. I'd like you to snuggle me tomorrow."

Dan is in DC right now, so the boys are always asking questions about what he's doing and seeing, etc. Today Sammy referred to DC as "George Washington DC." :)

Last week Sammy got upset with me about something and told me that he didn't want me to be his mommy anymore (this happens often, sadly). I heard Dan say to him, "Sammy, you could search the entire world and not find a better mommy!" Sammy replied, "Then I think I'll travel outside of Earth to find one."

Have a great week!

Sammy-Jammy's FIFTH birthday!

Five years ago I was in a hospital room snuggling with the cutest, sweetest newborn. I fell in love with him the second I met him. I remember not wanting to put him down...to the extent where Dan would pry him from my arms so that I would get some sleep! Sammy has always felt like the most perfect addition to our family. I can't imagine my life without his snuggles and constant stream of hilarious antics. Happy fifth birthday, my PRECIOUS youngest boy! I love you to pieces!

I can't help but spoil my boys rotten on their birthdays. I do. Today was no exception.

I stayed home from work to spend the day with my cutie pie! The two of us went to the Mall of America and rode a couple rides, followed by lunch, visiting Dan at work, quiet time at home, making cupcakes, opening presents, family dinner at Applebee's (always his favorite!) and dessert at home. Whew! What a day!

Isn't that the BEST, happiest birthday face?

At dinner tonight Sammy doused me with "colossal hugs" (as he calls them), smooches and snuggles. He kept saying, "I will never EVER leave you! I love you soooo much! I'm going to snuggle you FOREVER!" And in standard Sammy fashion, he finished by saying, "But...I'm leaving for Russia tomorrow."

I have to share another funny from today. I said to him, "SAMMY! How do you feel about being FIVE years old?!" He said (without skipping a beat), "I am powerful and impressed with male pattern baldness!" Wha..?! I had no idea that "male pattern baldness" was a part of his vocabulary!

Today was Elijah's last day of second grade! There are a lot of emotions wrapped up in that (for me). Dan leaves for DC on Saturday and the next few days are PACKED with fun adventures for the little boys and me. It is officially summer break, which is such a strange feeling. Yay and yikes!

Have a great rest of your week and thank you for checking in!

Boy funnies!

I was tickling Sammy from his toes up to his head. As I got close to his armpits, he raised his elbows up in the air like a chicken and said SO cutely, "Are you looking for THEEEEEEESE?!?!?!" Elijah and I laughed SO HARD. We have rehashed the line a hundred times since!

Sammy is not officially a "reader," but he can read many small words and spell them, too. He has been sorting out letters and sounds and often asks me about specific sounds/words. The silent E on the ends of words has been hard for him to understand. In standard Sammy fashion, he has defied it. "WHY don't we say the E on the end of DONE?" So now, every time he says the word "done," he pronounces it DONE-eh. "Mommy, I am DONE-eh with my lunch."

After giving him a big hug, Sammy said to me, "Thank you, Lady of Confidence!"

Sammy writes his initial on EVERYTHING that is his. He does NOT want Elijah to invade on his territory. I see a huge letter S on so many things in our house!

When we leave the club, we walk through two big double doors. Elijah has started pushing them both open at the same time and saying, "Welcome to the FUTURE!"

Tonight Sammy was being super sassy, so Dan talked to him and had him sit in a time-out. Sammy does NOT like being in trouble. He told Dan: "I'm leaving this house and going to NOWHERE. I'm not gonna miss ANYONE."

Our week in bullet points

My brain is thinking in bullets instead of sentences/paragraphs, so here is a bulleted recap of our past week!

- Dan and I continue to be overwhelmed about how good it feels to spend entire spring/summer weekends and evenings together as a family. We haven't done this consistently since Elijah was a year old, so it is foreign. And really, really nice.

- Last weekend we went to a movie as a family (Home...SO CUTE!), spent time with family, went to the horse races (we haven't done this since E was 1, either) and visited a few parks.

- We said good-bye to our beloved Fishy-Wishy this week, as he swirled away from us down the toilet. Sammy cried genuinely sad tears.

- We spent one enjoyable day with a caterpillar friend who we found adoring Sammy from his shoulder.

- Elijah had an overall GREAT week at school. He went on a field trip with his class today and got a "great" report from his awesome special education teacher, which earned him a few Pokemon cards from Mama.

- Sammy had another cute soccer game on Thursday. Grandma and Grandpa came to cheer him on with us!

- I have never been so excited for Friday to come! The past two weeks have been crazy!

- I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but Sammy has been really interested in recycling. He has learned which pieces of garbage can be recycled and he is our POLICE. If I throw a recyclable item in the garbage, he reprimands me. "This is RECYCLING! Not garbage!" He has been asking to look at photos of recycling facilities, so maybe we will have to find one to visit this summer.

- Another interest of Sammy's is sea creatures. He LOVES learning about anything that lives in the ocean and retains all of the information so well. He will often say things to me like, "Mommy, did you know that whale sharks are as big as a school bus?"

- Sammy has also been making rules around our house that he wants us all to follow. For example, our pantry door is usually open because we have stuff spilling out of it and sitting on the floor in front of it. The other day he reorganized everything inside so that it could easily close. Then he put a post-it note with the word "PANTRY" written on it on the door and closed it. He told each of us that the pantry door needed to be closed at all times. If one of us leaves it open, he says, "WHO left the pantry door open? WHO?!"

- Sammy is finally getting over his croupy cough that lasted WAY too long. He hasn't been getting as much sleep as usual because of it and has tired eyes today.

- On the other hand, I think Elijah has been sleeping well! I say "I think" because I have stopped recording his sleep on his fitbit since he has seemed so rested. He does still wake up in the middle of the night occasionally and he is ready to start the day EARLY, but nothing like before. We also have our daily struggles, but things overall are manageable. He has experienced regression in certain areas recently, but we have noticed some real progress this spring! "Progress with hiccups" is how his teacher explained the past few months and I think that says it perfectly.

- I am excited for another weekend spent with my awesome boys! We may or may not make it to the dropzone for MY first time this season. Next week will be another busy week, with some exciting things thrown in such as Sammy's fifth birthday and Elijah's last day of second grade!

- Thanks for checking in and for putting up with my disjointed bullets! Have a great weekend!

Croup: Season 5, Episode 2 (Samson)

I've been hoping that Elijah's sickness from last week would pass right over Sammy, but no such luck. Sam was sounding croupy before bed last night, so we gave him a TINY preventative dose of oral steroids. He was up at 9:00 coughing and barking. I have to say that he is SO calm and sweet when he is sick. He wraps his little arms around my neck so sweetly. We sat in a steamy bathroom and then Dan brought him outside. Then, as I usually do when the boys are sick, I brought him to bed with us. He was wheezy for most of the night, but stayed calm and that helped to not send him into a full-blown episode. He took up ALL of my side of the bed, so I literally slept on 6 inches of the edge and wrapped my legs around the bottom of the bed. I think Elijah got the best night of sleep out of all of us for maybe the first time ever!

Sammy took a nap at daycare today and woke up with another croup episode. Ever since, he has been wheezy/barky. We took every preventative measure we could think of before bed tonight. He still sounds rough despite our efforts and I'm fully expecting another round tonight. Poor dude.

It has been a TIRING week. I worked 20 hours in Cannon Falls in addition to accomplishing just about everything else I normally accomplish in a week. I went on a field trip with E's class on Tuesday and had so much fun inspecting samples from a pond at a nature reserve. I have always loved going on field trips with him (minus a few nightmares from first grade). Sammy had a cute soccer practice last night. He is starting to feel more comfortable on the field. I LOVE watching him run around and have fun with other kids, even though he doesn't interact a ton with them yet.

I have 20 minutes of work to do and then I am putting this computer down and turning into a vegetable for the evening! Have a GREAT weekend, everyone! Be safe and have fun!

Croup: Season 7, Episode 4 (Elijah)....and a few other things

Yesterday I heard a familiar cough from Elijah and I had the thought that croup might be in our future. He woke up at 1:00am barking like a seal. We spent 15 minutes in a steamy bathroom and he sounded good enough to go back to bed. At 3:00 it was worse, so he and Dan did a round in the bathroom, followed by a dose of oral steroids and a trip outside. It got a little bit better and it was nowhere near as severe as it usually is, but he had moderate stridor even after our efforts. So that I could listen closely (and obsess), I brought him to bed with us. After 1 1/2 hours of Elijah sleeping soundly and me not sleeping at all, I retreated to the couch. Early morning sleep is so touchy with him and I did not want to do anything to wake him up once he was out. He still sounded barky in the morning, so we kept him home from school today.

I loaded Elijah up with essential oils tonight (thieves and frankincense!) and also gave him a preventative dose of steroids in hopes of avoiding a repeat of last night.

(Sammy is the cute little green guy in the middle with the red socks..)

This week has been BUSY and (mostly) fun! It was so much fun watching Sammy at his first soccer game on Saturday. He was hesitant to go out onto the field, but once he was out there he ran around and loved it. Every time he was running fast down the field, he would look over at me with a huge smile and give me two thumbs up. :)

Sunday was Mother's Day and it was incredible. My boys spoiled me with breakfast in bed, precious cards and gifts, flowers, a NAP, lunch out with Dan's family and tons of love and snuggle time. I think Mother's Day should happen every week!

Tuesday was Elijah's second grade track and field day. It was COLD! We were all bundled up in coats, hats, mittens, SCARVES and blankets. Elijah did so great at his events and tried his best. I was a proud mama! Minus a 15-minute stretch when the boys would not stop tackling each other in front of Elijah's classmates, it went smoothly and we had fun.

Here is Elijah and a friend of his getting ready to do the shoe kick! Super cute!

He did the hippity-hop relay again this year. He was behind the rest, but finished valiantly!

And this one was a total surprise to me.. he stacked cups! 

And of course they ended with a tug-of-war. The whole event was so fun to watch.

A few other tidbits from our week..

Dan and I celebrated nine years of marriage yesterday! Nine years. So much has happened, but I love my wonderful hubby more than ever. I don't know what I would do without him! Our traditional dinner out was one of the most delicious ones we remember.

I find lovely little nuggets on my phone such as the following all the time. Nice..

A neighbor of ours got out his mini 1959 Corvette last weekend and let Elijah sit in it (Sammy refused). It runs and everything! So cool!

That's enough excitement for one week, I think! I'm looking forward to the weekend when we can all relax and prepare for a couple of crazy weeks coming up. I'll be working in Cannon Falls for the next few weeks, so some other things will need to be shelved for a bit.

Thanks for checking in! Have a great weekend!

Trading card benefits and something that is hard to explain

Two posts within just a few days? What is going on? There are a few things I wanted to write out before I forget about them. The first thing is GOOD! On Wednesday I saw the number for Elijah's school pop up on my phone. Most of the time this does not mean good news, so I took a deep breath and answered. It was Elijah's teacher, kindly calling to tell me about a positive change she has seen in him this week. First, a quick rewind to a few weeks ago.. Elijah came home and insisted that I let him get Pokemon cards because all the boys in his class were trading them. I felt this could only be a good thing for him, considering the socializing needed for this activity, so we took a trip to the store and got some. He has been talking a little bit about them since and how he and his friends have been making trades. Back to the phone call.. Mrs. G said that since he became interested in the cards, he has befriended a few boys in his class. This would be the first time EVER showing interest in having boys as friends! She said that she was seeing some really positive changes in him, including increased confidence with his peers. She also suggested that this might be a good time to ask a few boys over for a play date and she gave me two names. She mentioned that some major maturing has been happening and that he still blurts out inappropriately, but that he can reign it in much more easily than before (same as at home). I was so grateful for all of this news and also that she thought to call and share it with me.

On another note, the boys and I have been checking out some new parks in the area with the warmer weather. Last week we saw a park that we had never been to, so I pulled over and let them play for a bit. Two kids at the park were interested in Elijah right away and asked him to play. He asked them if Sammy could join in, and they said yes. They all started running around in a tag-like fashion and as usual, Elijah backed out right away. He couldn't keep up, so he started doing his own thing. The other two kids looked confused and asked him why he wouldn't play. As his mom, it is SO HARD to watch this. Should I say something? Nothing? Then I heard Sammy say to them, "Something is wrong with him." Oh man. I could see that this bothered Elijah and that it confused the two kids. When we left, I had a gentle talk about Elijah's heart surgeries and how he might not always be able to keep up with other kids because of what he has been through. I tried to let them know that nothing is "wrong" with Elijah. He obviously does have delays, but I also always want him to feel normal. I have absolutely no idea how to explain it so that both sides are understood.

Sammy did great at his first soccer practice this week. I will say this gently, but I feel like all of the other kids are being groomed to excel...at age 4...and at this point we are there to learn and have fun. I'm going to be the parent who doesn't care about performance (at least not at age 4) and who cheers her awesome little boy on as he kicks the ball into the wrong goal! His first game is tomorrow morning. I can't wait! He looks so darn cute out there and he has a blast with the hugest, cutest smile on his face.

Dan is stuck in a Chicago airport tonight for the second time this spring, so we won't see him until tomorrow afternoon. We can't wait! We've missed him this week! Thanks for checking in...have a great weekend!

Spring adventures

The past week has been packed with fun and new things! Last weekend Sammy started soccer. He willingly put on his shin guards and cleats and willingly walked onto the field with a bunch of strangers (both huge feats). After they kicked balls around for a bit, we went over to meet the team he will be with for the season. He did NOT want to leave this first group of kids, and refused to say a word or even show himself to his team. His first practice is tomorrow night and I have absolutely no idea how it will go! Hopefully great! He looked sooooo cute running around on the soccer field on Saturday with his sunglasses and cute kicking.

We hit a fun park after soccer and walked around a lake. Sammy got caught up in looking for fish from the dock. We need to get these boys fishing this summer!

On Sunday we came upon a few Twins tickets, so we headed downtown for our first-ever game in the new stadium! It is NICE! The boys enjoyed...oh, the soft pretzels and mini donuts. I enjoyed the weather and scenery! It was a fun experience. Driving to the stadium as a family was surreal. For the past five years, the only time we are ever ALL driving somewhere fun on a warm, sunny day is when we are on vacation. Dan will not be skydiving full-time this year and it is strange! Wonderfully strange.

And guess who wouldn't stand by the golden glove for a photo?

Dan is in DC this week, so the boys and I are handling life ourselves. School is going well for Elijah overall. I'm SO happy that we are wrapping up the year on a mostly good note. And I cannot believe that the year is almost done. How in the world did that happen?!

It hit me last week that my days alone with Sammy are limited! This was such a sad realization for me. I cherish our alone time so much when Elijah is at school and Dan is at work. We run errands, check out new parks, have picnics, play at the mall, go to the club, hang out at home and snuggle (not all in the same day, of course). I'm going to miss this. I have been making an extra effort to enjoy every minute with my littlest cutie pie.

By the way, I've had a few people ask so I wanted to mention that we are still using essential oils on Elijah and I swear they are working. It seems like WAY too simple of a solution, hence my continued skepticism. We still have our bumps and challenging stretches for sure, but they are so much less bumpy. I think we've found a good combination that helps him sleep better, which in turn helps so much with anxiety. I have also discovered that Thieves works miracles for killing germs. We still have very specific struggles that we deal with daily at school and home, but overall life is much more peaceful than it was two months ago. We have an appointment with E's developmental ped coming up and he will also be starting cognitive behavioral therapy to work on coping skills/anxiety in June.

That's all for now! I'm hoping you are having a great week! Thanks for checking in!

Warm Weather Transformation

We have been LOVING this gorgeous Minnesota spring weather! We spend as much time as possible outside. Elijah has been very interested in riding our "big-boy" bike around the neighborhood (with me trailing close behind, of course). I love that he is finally wanting to be on a bike! He is doing great.

Sammy has been into RUNNING. He loves to run and asks me to time him as he runs to the end of the sidewalk and back. I can't remember if I've mentioned that he is starting soccer this weekend. All of us, including Sammy (surprisingly), are excited for his new adventure!

I frequently run into things like this in our house. Seriously.

And this. Love these silly cutie pies.

I snapped this photo the other day as we were walking home from the park. It looks like such a sweet picture, but Sammy was actually pretending to be holding Elijah captive. :) They sure didn't seem to mind walking like this. I love that they love each other so much.

I'm thankful that this the extent of our weekly update. We have had a great past week overall. School and behavior has been up and down for Elijah, but we all see a small amount of progress (yay!) in every area. Two steps forward, one step back. We will take it!

Thanks for peeking in!

Presidential Satur-Danger

What in the world is happening to time? It goes by so quickly that my head spins! Here we are again at Wednesday. This past week has brought a bit more difficult behavior from Elijah. He had a TINY upper respiratory cold for most of the past week, so that interfered with sleep a bit...enough to make a difference in behavior. His teacher sent me a few emails regarding his heightened potty talk and diminished self-control.

For the past few days we have been focusing on these issues and talking A LOT about correcting them. Elijah had a great past few days at school. It seems like when we talk talk talk about a specific issue, he can pull out some self-control.

Today Elijah was "special-k" for the day at school, which (among other things) means he got to share a talent with his class. On Monday as I tried to think of what his talent could be, I thought...uhh, presidents! He knows the US presidents better than anyone! That is most definitely a talent! So today he stood in front of his class and recited the presidents in order, by memory. He worked hard to make it happen. He was so happy and proud when he stepped off the bus today.

Dan is adjusting to his new job. I do my best to squeeze projects in between Sammy and Elijah snuggles (I much prefer the snuggles). Second grade is sadly wrapping up for Elijah. Sammy adores his family and still worries so much about tornadoes and bad guys.

Speaking of my awesome, sweet lil' Sammy.. here are a few funnies from this past week:

- We were driving in the car together and I glanced back to see him peering out the window. I asked him what he was thinking about and he said, "Well.. When I'm older.. When I go skydiving.. I am going to land on a cloud and then JUMP off that cloud!" Super-smart thinking!

- He buried his face in his empty cereal bowl, so I asked him what he was doing. He quickly shoved his bowl in my face and said, "I'm giving you a bowl full of breath!"

- Sammy now calls "Saturday" "Satur-danger."

- While playing our tickle game that we do at least twice/day, I said, "You can't move away from Mama!" He replied, "YES! I! CAN...ADA!"

- He knows that Elijah does not like being called Eli, so he has taken to calling him the LAST part of his name: JUH. More specifically: JUH the Jellyfish. Needless to say, Elijah does not love this.

And that is our week in a nutshell! I hope you are all having a great one!

An important anniversary

Wednesday seems to be my day for updating! Another week has flown by. In the past week we have noticed some changes with Elijah. Certain behaviors are getting difficult to manage, so we have had to get stringent. It seems like this is necessary every few months or so. Sleep is still overall SO MUCH better than it was two months ago. There was a stretch of time during the winter when I honestly do not know how we all survived! We were consistently waking up FOR THE DAY between 2:00 and 3:00 am. Now it is more like 5:00 or 6:00. Sometimes earlier and sometimes later, but a MUCH better scenario overall.

Guess what today is?! It is the 7th anniversary of Elijah's second open heart surgery - the big one! Every year on this day I experience a host of emotions. That was such a huge, important, intense surgery that had an incredible outcome. If I could travel back to April 15, 2008, and tell myself what present-day Elijah is like...I don't know if I would have believed myself! Super-spunky, smart, friendly, huge vocabulary, great big brother, silly, strong-willed, great reader, snuggly, fun.. I don't know what it was I was expecting for him in the years that followed that surgery, but he is doing better than I ever could have imagined. I think in those early years we were so focused on baking the cake (keeping him alive) that it was difficult to imagine that we might be able to put frosting on top some day. And sprinkles and cherries and gummy bears.

The boys have been fighting more than usual lately. They both have such strong wills and they clash pretty often. MOST of the time, though, they adore each other. If they are apart for more than an hour they start saying, "I MISS MY BROTHER!!!!"

Ironically, Elijah has been super interested in Veggie Tales again. It's ironic because that was his FAVORITE thing during the heart surgery that we are remembering today. He saved up birthday money this year and bought a Veggie Tales sing-along CD. We owned it years ago but watched it (and played with it) so much that it got scratched and cracked. I couldn't believe how excited E was to get a new copy and how many times he wants to watch it...over and over and over. Sammy isn't as interested in it, but he knows the words to all of the songs (don't we all).

The boys also both love Captain Underpants books right now. Elijah has read every word of every one of the books. Dan and I have considered so many times taking them away because potty talk has definitely increased since the discovery of these books. But...he reads! A ton. He doesn't read any other book with such interest. There are days when he will literally read for two hours. Book time trumps potty talk. :)

As always, Sammy has a constant stream of hilarious material spilling from his mouth. I can hardly keep up! Here is a sampling (the ones I write down!)..

- We were running to the car in the wind one day and he yelled up to me, "I'm a natural kite flyer, kid!"

- Enduring my daily onslaught of hugs and kisses, he said, "Ok, ok, enough with the hugs and easy on the kisses!"

- I told him "Great idea!" about something and he said, "Yep. I'm always thinkin' in my head."

- Yesterday he said to me, "Mommy, I love you more than anything in the ENTIRE Univers......al Studios." :)

- A load of laundry was spinning like crazy in the washing machine. Sammy said, "Is it gonna blow? RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" When he realized no one else was alarmed, he calmly said, "I don't think so, Sweetheart."


That's about all for now! 

A colorful week

I can't believe a week has passed since my last post! Where in the world did that time go? We have done a lot in the past week! 

We colored Easter eggs, which is an activity the boys look forward to every spring.

My cute egg decorators..

We also celebrated Easter! The boys had a fun time searching for eggs FILLED with candy (lucky ducks) and meeting their new stuffed animals.

This year it was so much fun to see that the boys understand the true meaning of Easter more than ever. We talked about it A LOT. 

We enjoyed time with family after church. 

The boys always have such a fun time with their cousins! I love this photo. It's one of my favorites from the day. Look at these two cute faces!

This is such a precious photo of Grandma and Grandpa with all EIGHT of their grandchildren.

The boys with their cousin Miya and dog Oreo (pronounced by Sammy as "Oriul"). And, er...not sure what is up with Elijah's outfit and pants on his head. :)

On Monday I brought Elijah to his 6-month cardiology check-up. These appointments always cause a tiny bit of anxiety for me. Not a ton, thankfully. It's always in the back of my mind, but somehow I've managed to never over-stress. On the morning of the appointment I had a stomach ache, so I worried that it was a sign of bad news to come. I over-analyzed the tech's facial expressions as she performed the echo. I convinced myself that open heart surgery was right around the corner and that the blue and red colors were mixing incorrectly on the monitor. Thankfully Elijah was oblivious of my concern, as he always is. I love that he doesn't worry about these appointments. I hope it stays that way.

The cool and collected Dr. G entered the room to explain that...are you ready for this?...NOTHING has changed with Elijah's heart since last year. AMAZING! His heart function and pressures are basically exactly the same as they were a year ago. We expected a heart cath last summer and it wasn't necessary. We 100% expected one this summer. And again it's not necessary! Dr. G's best guess is that he will need one in the summer of 2016. Sigh of relief. Thank you, God.

So that has been our week. Colorful, fun, filled with family, meaning and good news. And silliness! I'll close with a few Sammy funnies. This boy cracks me up!

As we walked out the front doors of church, we could hear music playing over the outdoor speakers. Sammy said, "Mommy! WHERE is that music coming from?" I said, "From the speakers!" He said, "Oh. I thought the music was coming from Heaven."

When the four of us were running to the car because of the never-ending cold, Sammy (who was holding my hand and couldn't stand that Dan and Elijah were going to "beat" us) said, "Let's get to the car QUICK! I CAN'T HANDLE THIS!"

Randomly the other day Sammy told me, "Mommy, you do NOT win the trophy for best human."

After tasting some frosting from a cake at Easter, Sam said, "I did not like the taste of that frosting. It was DARN ishy."


Thanks for peeking in! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! xo

Spring Break 2015

It is spring break week! Our schedule has been all over the place and every day feels like it's Saturday. We have been trying to make the most of this time together. Dan got home from DC on Friday morning, so we had from then until this morning as a family. Today Dan started a new, exciting job, so the boys and I are back to hanging out!

Elijah and Sammy play their Perplexus games every chance they get! They are GOOD at these!

Yesterday we took a family trip to the Children's Museum. We had tons of fun! Sammy enjoyed being a mail carrier (the cutest one I've ever seen).

Both boys spent a ton of time in the water area. Can I admit that Dan and I enjoyed ourselves here, too?

Look! He also transforms into the cutest turtle I've ever seen.

I found a couple Chick-Fil-A gift cards in my wallet, so guess where we stopped on our way home?

Lucky boys!

We have been LOVING the weather. After another long winter, it feels so incredibly good to be able to go outside again without body parts freezing off.

Things with Elijah are still overall better. We have been experimenting with different essential oils and I think I made a connection last week. I had been putting two different oils on his feet at night before bed...one is a blend of oils and the other is Frankincense. We ran out of Frankincense, so I substituted it with something else. A few days later I noticed that E was starting to unravel again. Sleep started getting worse again and he wasn't able to control himself like he had been in the previous weeks. I quickly ordered more of the Frankincense and we are back on track. Could it really be that easy?

I would still like to find someone to do cognitive behavioral therapy with him so he can develop coping skills for his anxiety. I have a list of recommended names, now I just need to schedule something. We have a cardiology check-up on Monday and we never know what to expect going into those. Please pray for a good report!

A few funnies before I make dinner for the boys..

Today we took a walk to the park and it was WINDY. When we were walking into the wind, Sammy said, "The wind does NOT want us to go this way!"

The boys gave Dan and I some new silly names the other night. Our favorites: El Loro and Mrs. Minnesota. Today they were scrambling up president names and I became Gerald Jefferson. :)

I hope spring has come wherever you live and that you all are having a great week! Thanks so much for checking on us!