Good bye Summer

Wow so this summer just flew by.  I don't know if it was the fact that I have 2 little munchkins, school, family in town, outdoors calling our names but I haven't blogged!

We have been staying busy this summer with going to the zoo, catching a few baseball games, hiking, camping, bike riding and other summer fun activities.

 Mason has learned how to roll over and that is his major mode of transportation.  He can't wait to get up and run with Bryce.  Mason has also started to eat solid foods- he loves bananas and carrots!  He's just growing up so fast and I can't believe that next week he'll be 6 months already!

We took our first family camping trip all four of us (5 if you include Benton).  It was a great time up near Bailey, CO.  Sleeping in a tent was interesting but we had a great time and Bryce loved it!  He loves throwing rocks into rivers and could literally do this all day.  He's a great little hiker and loves the outdoors while looking for squirrels and rabbits.

No so sure about camping!

Danny and I also were able to celebrate our birthdays in Seattle this year.  It was supposed to be a surprise trip for Danny but as my luck goes I can never keep a secret from that man so he knew about it.  We had a great time on our first out of state trip without the munchkins!  We also were able to check another baseball field off of our bucket list to see all the baseball fields of America!

Seattle Mariners

Bryce also has picked up a hobby of picture taking- He loves taking self portraits and some of the pictures he "stages" are hilarious!  (he's getting a kiddo camera for his birthday so I don't have to worry so much about him breaking my camera)
Here a few of his masterpieces!  He's such a goof!

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Oh how time flies

It has been a while since I have blogged due to the fact of adjusting to our new normalcy. Mason is growing like a weed and was 10lbs 10 oz at his 2 month check up!  He has just started smiling and melting our hearts.  He's starting to sleep more regularly and figure out this crazy thing called life.  Bryce is loving his brother and wants to play cars with him all the time.  The day that Mason can finally play with Bryce will be a wonderful day.  Bryce is also becoming such a little guy.  He is chatting up a storm and asks deep and thoughtful questions all the time.  He loves to sing and thoroughly enjoys Amazing Grace and Your Grace is Enough sung by the Veggies Tales.  Often times during nap instead of sleeping, you can hear him belting out a tune.  Also our new "talent" of sorts is being potty trained!  After months and months of constant battles, we said it was up to him when to go.  He then decided that it was time for him to use the toilet.  Can we say strong willed??  :)  He also has become quite the athlete with "playing" golf and t-ball in the back yard on a daily basis.  He's just hilarious and I find myself laughing often at the personality he is developing. 

Dan and I are doing great as we just celebrated our 6th anniversary together!  What a fun and adventurous 6 years it has been!  We celebrated by dinner at the Denver Aquarium and fondue.  With a new born, having a night out is all you need.

I also recently started going to back to school.  I am in the Speech Language Pathology courses at CU's online program in anticipation of getting my Speech Language Pathology Assistant Certification by December 2013 to become a speech teacher.  I am thoroughly enjoying it and learning tons about the science of speech.  

Helping feed brother

Our darling boys

Everything is going great and we are looking forward to a wonderful summer!

Mighty Mason Joseph

Well this weekend didn't follow the plan that we had!  Danny planned on finishing up the back yard and getting some baby stuff from the attic while I planned on reorganizing the spare bedroom and washing a bunch of baby clothes and then taking Bryce to an Easter Egg hunt and playing at the park.  Instead...
I woke up at 7am to my water breaking.  After a moment of freaking out since I was almost 5 weeks early, we called our wonderful neighbor Aaron to watch Bryce since he was still sleeping!  Aaron, who just got off the late shift was a saint and came and watched Bryce until my dear friend Cori could come watch him after class.  We headed to the hospital unsure if we were indeed having a  baby or if I just needed to be checked out.  Once at the hospital it was clear that we were having a baby sometime soon.  The nurses and doctors at Good Samaritan Hospital were above and beyond helpful in explaining our situation of having a premature baby.  We were given the window of having a perfectly normal baby to having a baby that would need to be in the hospital  until his due date in May.  We were concerned but we understood that our little guy was in God's hands!  They started me on pitocin to start the process.  By 3:30pm, I was in a lot of pain and got the epidural.  We then waited it out for a while.  At about 5:15pm, I felt the need to push and miraculously at 5:21pm, little Mason Joseph was born at 6 lbs 1 oz and 19 inches long.  He was able to breathe on his own and had a clear bill of health! My sister was able to hop on several standby flights and make it out Saturday evening while my parents were on a anniversary trip and were gracious to switch their plans and come out as well.  Mason truly is a mighty little guy.  They continued to monitor him the next couple of days, completely astounded how he was eating, keeping his blood sugar leveled, sleeping, and being alert.  We were even able to take him home before the 48 hour mark!  We are beyond blessed at what a healthy little guy we have!  He looks a lot like Bryce with the cute little nose and bright blue eyes.  Bryce is still getting adjusted to having baby brother at home but likes to help with bringing bottles and diapers as a "big helper".  We are loving that Mason is happy and healthy and so thankful for all the prayers for our little guy!

When it Rains, It Pours

I don't need sympathy, I am just simply writing this for you to laugh along with me in the funny and imperfect lives we have and how days are not all rainbows and sunshine but sometimes there are those days when you just sit down and can't decide if you should laugh or cry about the circumstances!
I have been struggling with pregnancy insomnia so I didn't go to sleep til about 11:30 just tossing and turning.  Poor Danny got up with Bryce at 12:30 because he was moaning in his sleep only to find that he had soaked through his diaper and needed an outfit change.  About 3 rolls around and I have horrendous leg cramps (I need to increase my potassium) and can't sleep for a while.  Four rolls around and it happens again!  At this point, I am tired and just hoping for a couple hours of sleep but really just hoping the night would end.  At 4:45 Benton gets sick waking both Danny and myself up.  We throw him outside while cleaning up the floor and realizing why some people choose not to have dogs!  5 o'clock and we both are having a rough time falling asleep and once I finally fall asleep my alarm goes off.  The morning progresses fine until Benton comes in and we realize that he's still internally sick.  I won't go into the gruesome details but as we are cleaning Benton up, the smell overtakes me.  For those of you who have been pregnant, you realize that sometimes as much as you will yourself to not get sick over a smell, the harder it becomes.  So poor Danny is cleaning up Benton while I run to the restroom to throw up!  Ah the glory of pregnancy!  A few hours pass, uneventful until I walk into the kitchen and realize the smell of cinnamon is quite strong only to realize that my candle on my candle warmer ( to cover up the smell from earlier this morning)  has shattered and there is red wax all over my counter, floor, dog bowls, recycling and papers.  I quickly clean up the still wet wax and google how to remove all the dried wax off of multiple surfaces.  During this discovery,  I start to feel a little light headed.  I have been having issues with low blood pressure and quickly take a reading to find I am quite low.  I gobble down some salty crackers with peanut butter and then a couple of spoonfuls of salt as my blood pressure slowly rises back to a normal level.  I laugh!  I am able to get all the wax up off the surfaces ( a small section of tan grout is slightly pink) and thank the Lord for Goof Off and Magic Erasers and the glorious information that Google provides- what did people do before Google?!  The smell of Goof Off makes me slightly queasy and I have to open several windows to air out the house even though it is currently freezing outside and snowing! Bryce was a trooper through my red wax explosion and kept his buddy Evie, who I watch during the day, busy by doing silly antics and making her laugh.  As I am finishing up, I hear a thump and crying.  Bryce's show for his friend somehow included jumping from a stepping stool onto an oven mitt and has ended in a bonked head while Evie laughs- only causing Bryce to cry harder!  Now we sit down to lunch- windows open, Bryce singing the ABC songs, Evie screaming and I realizing how funny life is...even through the craziness.

Games

So Bryce is really into games right now- any game. We play Memory and Candyland on a weekly basis. Hide and Seek is a new favorite game. His favorite spot to hide is underneath throw pillows on the couch! He also loves to find Danny. Our newest obsession is puzzles. He got some puzzles for Christmas and loves to put them together, take them apart and put them back together! It amazes me how he continues to play these games for such a long time. May his attention span stay this long forever! :)

Good Doctor Update

We are currently 28 weeks pregnant and super excited from baby #2.  At 12 weeks, they took a blood test that showed a high protein for some reason.  Babies born with spina bifida often have an increase in this protein so we were concerned.  The first ultrasound showed that our little guy is stubborn and doesn't like to move so they couldn't clear see his brain and spine to rule out spina bifida.  The second ultrasound also concluded that our little guy doesn't like to move and they yet again could not see his spine, but we could see his brain and that looked great.  This third ultrasound has revealed that he does not have spina bifida and he is super healthy! They don't know why this protein is high so as usual I am a medical mystery!   It also shows that he has a big head, like Bryce and that he will be a big guy!  We're just glad he's healthy and can't wait to meet him in 12 weeks!

Snow storm of 2012

We love living in CO where one day it can be 70 degrees one day and two days later it snows 18 inches! Bryce loves being near the snow but not necessarily in the snow. Now Benton on the other hand loves the snow and is a complete snow dog! Here's just a few pics of our adventures in the snow

Baby #2 Name

So as we progress to almost 28 weeks with baby #2, we embark of the daunting task of naming this one.  Now with Bryce, he didn't have name until 2 months until he was born so we still have a month with this one.  Naming boys is so much harder.  Before we had Bryce we came up with a name for a girl and several names for a boy....but still finding a boy name was hard!  This time finding a name for a second boy is even harder! Danny and I agree on most things but names for this child just seem to be something we just can't agree on.  Also finding a name that we both love as much as Bryce is hard as well.  This little guy will most definitely have a great name but it may be determined at the hospital!  :)