It's a sad day

I have just learned of a sweet little girl Catherine born November 15, 2009 to Josh and Elizabeth. Catherine's mother is part of my on-line Spina Bifida support group. Baby Catherine was born with Spina Bifida and mild Hydrocephalus just like our Annabelle. Sadly, Catherine did not survive her shunt surgery on Tuesday, November 24th. No words can express how this family must be feeling right now.

My heart aches for them and I don't know any way to help them except to ask for prayers for them from the people who have been so diligently praying for Annabelle. Please pray for this sweet family as they try and deal with the loss of their sweet innocent baby. Please pray that they will be able to explain this tragic loss to their other three very young children. Please pray that they will some day be at peace.

This Thanksgiving I ask that you please pray for all babies with Spina Bifida that God will protect them always.

Benjamin's Preschool Photos

Click here to view this photo book larger

Heading to the ER

Click here to read the details on Annabelle's blog. Please keep us in your prayers (again!)

Annabelle's blog

Just an fyi for anyone who is interested in Annabelle's blog. I have added a few basic posts with pictures and you can click here if you would like to see them.

Asthma Attack!

The hope is that when your child has one you will be prepared to handle it ~ I don't think I was. Early Saturday morning, around 2:30 am we were woken up to the sounds of Jack coughing, screaming and gasping for air. He was pretty hysterical and I have to admit I wasn't so calm myself. This has happened once before about a year ago but he woke from his nap (not in the night) so Branden and I were awake. That time we ended up calling 911 since it was our first "real" experience with Asthma and were unsure what was going on and what to do.

Okay, so back to Saturday, all of the commotion was so loud that it woke Benjamin and Annabelle. Ben was a bit startled but he was fine and just wanted to see what was gong on, Annabelle on the other hand was not a happy camper so that of course added to the stressful situation. We immediately gave Jack his nebuliezer treatment, which is what the paramedics did the last time this happened. He didn't respond at all and he was fighting us the whole time. We opted to give him a second breathing treatment because we remembered that the paramedics needed to do that as well, plus we felt we had no choice. It was either give him a second treatment or off to the ER we go and I truly could NOT bare the thought of going there again.

After a little more than an hour Jack was calmer and was breathing much better. He was also completely amped up from the medicine (Albuterol). Although we were ready to go to bed, he was UP and ready for some fun! finally went to bed at 4:30 and he and Branden spent the remainder of the night/morning on the couch. I couldn't believe just how up Jack was. He stayed awake until 1pm when he finally went down for his nap. Boy, was Saturday a hard day!

We are VERY grateful that these asthma attacks have been few and far between but my goodness it sure is stressful for a mom when it does happen. I'm going to call the Dr. tomorrow and see if we should have a different type of medicine for those situations. I keep hearing the commercials in my head "your fast acting inhaler". Well we don't have one of those! I also kept thinking to myself "thank goodness Branden is here" I don't know if I could have set up the nebuliezer that fast or "what if we had been away from the house" then what would I do? It's a lot to think about.

Asthma is a scary thing and although Jack's has been diagnosed as mild it still worries me, especially this time of year!

The MONTH of Halloween

I love that Halloween isn't just one night for our boys - it's a month long celebration. Jack and Benjamin REALLY liked Halloween this year. They had fun decorating and dressing up. Their only complaint was that our house wasn't scary enough! Oh well, I don't do scary.

The boys did make these ghosts and hang them from the trees in front. Jack was being super funny - yelling to the neighborhood "watch out neighbors, our house is haunted by ghosts - real ghosts, not fake, they just look plastic". "Watch out neighbors, you better lock your doors". Okay, so it was way funnier than it sounds, I promise.



Friday, October 2nd
Heading out to Atlantic Avenue to start the Halloween celebrating at Eat, Play, Grow

October 8th
The boys were ready to continue getting into the HALLOWEEN mood.
They tried on every costume we own and danced in our hallway. They also decorated some cute pumpkins (see here)

It was a pretty scary fashion show

The night BEFORE Halloween
We went to the Aranda's house for some PRE-HALLOWEEN fun!

I just LOVE to see those smiling faces
Emily, Jack, Catie (hostess), Sammy and Benjamin

Not too shabby for a group of armature pumpkin carvers

HALLOWEEN NIGHT
Pot luck dinner and trick or treating at our good friends the Aranda's house



Benjamin Bumble Bee and Jack a.k.a Dorothy

Our little pumpkin with her Daddy

Having a little bite to eat before we head out trick-or-treating

So cute!


Oh no my wig!!

There's those smiling faces again (minus Benjamin)

It was a good night and lots of fun was had by all

Okay, so for those of you that are saying "wow, Jack really likes to wear dresses" - yep, he does. Do I love it? Honest answer, no, not really. Did I want him to dress up as Dorothy for Halloween? No. He actually wanted to be it last year and I'm embarrassed to admit it but I said no - seems silly to me now. This year he was really confused and disappointed that I said no to him again about being Dorothy. I gave him the whole "there are boy costumes and there are girl costumes" speech. It seemed sort of weird to me when the words were coming out of my mouth but at the same time I really felt I was doing the right thing. He is getting older and I was so afraid of what the other kids would say to him. I didn't want him to be teased for wearing girl clothes. I think there was a small part of me that was concerned what the other parents at the party would say to Branden and I. After seeing how sad he was I realized that I was the one that was wrong here and that I don't want to teach my children to just conform to all of society's "norms" so they will fit in. Am I encouraging them to be different? No, but I am encouraging them to be themselves and to be proud of themselves. Do I hope he chooses a more "boyish" costume for next year? Honest answer, yes. Will I be mad or disallow his costume if it's not? No. The joy on his face when I told him that I had bid on and won his Dorothy costume on e-bay was priceless. He was SO happy you would have thought we won the lottery. Like most parents, I try to make my kids happy if I can.

By the way, I only got two comments at the party about his outfit and by that time I felt fully confident and capable to answer their inquiry. Both Branden and I were very happy with our decision to allow him to be Dorothy and we thought he looked adorable.

Pumpkin Projects

On the Friday before Halloween Branden took the day off to have some well deserved family time. We started the day with some yummy pumpkin pancakes and stayed in our jammies a lot longer then we ever get to.

Branden and the boys decided to do a pumpkin "project" as I called it. That's how I refer to things when I don't exactly know what we will be doing but want to get the boys excited and get their buy in on something. Branden told them they need their own tools so he took them to Harbour Freight to buy their very own hammers. If you have ever been to Harbour Freight before you that this is an adventure in and of itself.
The day was really starting off great!

Ben just loved his new "little guy" hammer.


I loved watching their determination when pounding

Jack thought the "insides" of his pumpkin were super cool, but asked if he could wash his hands and his pumpkin out with the hose

Benjamin wasn't so sure about the "yucky stuff" inside his pumpkin


Tell us how you really feel boys!


Our sweet little boys ~ so proud of their pumpkins

Video of Jack hammering away

Video of Benjamin hammering away

Benjamin's 1st candy necklace

He never actually ate it, but he sure liked wearing it.

City Boys on the Farm

Tanaka Farms that is! On Saturday, October 10th, Benjamin's preschool met there. It was a special day for Branden and the boys. We decided it would be easiest for Annabelle and I to stay home this year, but looking at all the fun they had we are super excited for next year's visit.

Branden with his boys


Ben really enjoyed the petting zoo ~ Jack, not so much.

They were allowed to pick 4 of each vegetable - Jack and his first radish!

Picking green beans

Carrots and onions right from the ground ~ how cool!

Poor Mr. Scarecrow - looks like he had a rough night :-0


This is quickly becoming their signature pose. I have to admit that I just LOVE it.
The boys really have a strong love for each other that just warms my heart.


Pumpkin jumping! Branden said they were having so much fun.


The long walk back with their pumpkins


They made it!

Jack carefully washed all of the vegetables

Benjamin was SO proud of their vegetables.
They even shared some radishes with the neighbors.