Tom's 3rd 30th!

Happy Birthday Tom!

Tom's Birthday was on the 20th, and he was out of town(coming home on the 21st), and Henry and Lays were really sick, and the boys were off for Christmas vacation, which meant that I had all four kids, no Tom, and no way to go to the store to get stuff for his cake/party!

So I improvised!

The kids made a Lego banner, and special cards, and I made a homemade-made-up cake! 

How could he have wanted anything more than this for his 3rd-30th Birthday?

It's so easy... NOT!

Gingerbread House

Family Home evening night

usually goes a lot snazzier than this!

I usually pick one up at Costso.

This year I said to myself-

"Self, maybe we should try our hand at homemade Gingerbread-Cut-Out-Cookies, and just whip up a batch of Royal Icing?"

and I answered myself-

"Sure, how hard could it be?"

Well...

here is the proof that it's not so easy!

I have some tips for ya-

 #1. After you cut out the pieces make sure not to pull on them too much(mine ended up being all different sizes).

#2. You must cook it long enough(all my pieces were bending)!

#3. If the pitch for the roof is too steep, the roof won't stay put(so we turned ours into an apartment by eating the tips off).

and last, but not least...

#4. Don't move the house till you let the icing fully dry(or it will look like ours)!

SNOW DAY!!!

Yep, I know it's a little Layla show, but the boys won't pose.

Could Logan's feet look any more disgusting?

That pic is actually what his feet looked like after he refused to wear his boots to school.

So we woke up to all this snow in one night, and a message saying SCHOOL'S OUT!!!!

We had a blast, it was perfect "building" weather.

I have a video, but the boys are screaming at each other in it. Oh well, I think I'll post it anyways.

So here is my sad little Henry sporting his bonks, and our Christmas tree. For no reason other than I wanted to document both things.

Happy 6th Birthday Jameson!

My Jay-man

is 6!!!

You are so old!

You have such a fun and quirky personality,

and I'm not exaggerating when I say you've been that way since birth!

We waited what seemed like f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get you. You and your brother were so different, and having two was so much fun that I remember saying I wanted more right away. You turned me into a "collector" of personalities! I couldn't wait to see what the next one would be like!!!

(Then Lays came 15 months later and I was singing a totally different tune by then, but that's another story!)

You are very serious. You try to keep everyone on task, even your kindergarten teacher says you are always reminding her if she forgets to do something.

You are a great organizer. In fact you like to organize so much that you used to try to keep all of the packaging that your toys came in. It got so bad that one day I decided to have you watch "Hoarding, Buried Alive" with me. Now when you try to keep things all I have to say is "Jameson, do you want to be a HOARDER?" You immediately agree with me, and off you go.

You are quick witted. You are always the first one to get the joke, or figure out the puzzle.

Since you STILL don't have your front teeth, you say a lot of stuff differently. I love it, but you do not like it when I find it funny!!!

You do not like it when I tell people stories about you. Lots of times when something happens you'll say-"MOM, DO NOT PUT THAT ON YOUR BLOG!!!"

We love you so much Jameson!

Could you please STOP all this growing up stuff?

This was your Birthday morning before Church party!

We have Church at 8:20 right now and we actually made it this week!

You're smirking in the bottom left pick cause we got you new undies! You go through a lot cause Logan thinks wedgies are cool. We're working with him on that one I promise.

Yep, Logan does look quite creepy in this shot. The poor kid was seething with jealousy.

At least it wasn't affecting your enjoyment!

I love that you got excited about the batteries. You are always on my case about buying them, so when you got them you said- "Good, now I don't have to wait till mom gets me some."

Ya little punk!

HeheHEhE!

I know, I deserved it!

We just had your party yesterday.

You thought up all of the games.

When it was all over and you were getting ready for bed you came and gave me a big hug and said-
"Thanks mom, it was a great party!"

tears

We played- FIX YOUR DRAGONS TAIL(pin the tail on the dragon)

FEED YOUR DRAGON(shoot a dart gun through their mouth)

AND

PREPARE YOUR DRAGONS FAVORITE SNACK(decorate cupcakes with gummy worms, and candy fish)

I also made capes for all the kids that said D.T. for dragon trainer. When you saw them you said that all their names didn't start with a "D"!

Love you so much Jay-man!

I think "Karma" is taking this a little too far!

So here is Layla just playing around.

Oh, and by the way, did you notice the big adorable smile at the end?

Aw what a little dear. She has such a sweet smile...

Make that had a sweet smile.

Last week she bumped into her friend, and then fell face first into a bench at a play land.

The dentist said that they would fall out soon and...

Last night Tom pulled out one of them.

He told her that the Tooth Fairy gives you two dollars if you let your parents pull your tooth out after you bonk it. Bet you didn't even know that did ya?

Poor Lays!

It's Karma I tell ya!

 Now my little darling has fallen prey to the sins of her father!

What's that, "How so" you ask?

I don't know if you can recall my post from Feb 19th 2010,

but that's when I told you that all three of my oldest kids have bonked

(or, until now,in Lays case chipped) their two front teeth!

Well what I neglected to say was that it's all Toms fault!!!

I hate to call him out (who are we kidding this is actually my only small form of retribution!), but

the reason my kids are cursed is because Tom(age 8) rode his bike right over his 2 year old little brother,

 and in one fell swoop knocked his little bros

two front teeth out!

So now my little Lays is probably going to lose both of her two front teeth in the next few days!

Just for statistical purposes

I thought ya might like this info- 

Lost front teeth - Logan : Kindergarten  Grew Back- Logan : Kindergarten

                   Jay      : Feb 19 2010                       Jay     : Not yet

   (preschool)                  

I know that it's cute and all, but I feel bad for her. She is probably going to sing-

"All I want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth"

for like three years.

All I can say is enjoy them while you've got them Henry!

p.s. Lays told me on Sunday morning that she couldn't go to Church because she had the "Bless You-s!" She ended up going b/c she wasn't even SNEEZING which is how you catch the "Bless You-s."

Love Love Love how that little girl thinks!

Two years ago today.

Two years ago today I found out that my baby was not going to be what I had expected.

To be completely honest, I was expecting a healthy little girl, (sorry Henry, I'm just keeping it real. I really wanted Lays to have a sister!) and got my special little boy.

  I'm sure glad I got what I wasn't expecting.

Last year I talked about what I had learned, so I thought I'd do it again this year.

Upon reflection, I have decided that I have learned that
the old adage- "Don't put off till tomorrow what can be done today."
has a sister- "Don't let what might happen tomorrow stress you out, and ruin today!"



On that day,

I remember I was dying,
 I kept thinking over and over,
 "am I going to have a boy, or a girl?"

The suspense was killing me.

Here is a little peek into how it went down.

Now for starters don't be jealous, because everyone has their own special gifts, but I'm just one of those people who can look at an ultrasound and actually see stuff! I know, I know, I'm amazing and you truly are jealous cause all you see are black and white swirly shapes.

 So, since I'm possessed with this special gift, I knew the second the ultrasound tech pulled up her first picture that I was having a baby BOY! I really was shocked! I remember saying to Tom-
"No one is going to believe it's a boy!"
Shortly after that is when I started to realize something was wrong.(here is where the freaking out started)  The lady wasn't talking to us at all. Usually they will say stuff like-

"I'm looking at the heart, it looks good"... yada, yada, yada, and so on and so forth.

We got silence, and "I'm just going to get the Doctor."

When I found out Henry had Spina Bifida I didn't know quite what it meant. After the Doctor went down the GINORMOUS list of things that weren't going right I asked her-

"What do we do?"

 As a Christian with strong beliefs on when life begins, and how it is not my decision to end it,
I was actually freaking out, and pleading-"What can you do to fix my baby?"

But as the Doctor didn't know that she said- "There are a number of options..."

I remember not even letting her finish the sentence by almost yelling out-

"I'm not aborting MY baby!"

To which she replied-"That's not what I meant."

It possibly wasn't, but during the next 5 months I had one Doctor tell me that it was going to be

 "a lot of work", and was I sure I was willing to do it?

I also had another Doctor congratulate me for deciding to have a "special needs" baby because

"most people would choose not to."

I also knew of one lady asking if it

wasn't cruel of me to choose to carry out the pregnancy?
I let these comments, and my own fears paralyze my days.

I lived in a constant state of stress and worry.
I was always thinking things like- "My poor baby!'
and "what do I need to worry about next?"
and "how the heck am I going to do this?"

All that worry didn't do any good, it just made those five months really hard.
So now I try every day to tell myself-
"Don't let what might happen tomorrow stress you out, and ruin today!"


As a 19 month old, Henry doesn't know, or care that he has all these things going on.

Frankly all he cares about is how to get into the dishwasher 1000 times a day, and who left the bathroom open so he can flood the toilet with t.p., and where's the grub?

So today I just wanted to celebrate my little guy who is teaching me that I can't plan everything, and that's o.k.! 

Every Monday (if everything goes according to plans he he he) Henry and I go to a "special needs" gymnastics class.  While there, I get a very good work out hefting my 30lb baby up, over, under, and through all sorts of things. I also get to socialize with the parents of the other children with all sorts of diagnoses. Whenever I get to know another Mom they all say two things-

#1. Their kid is a miracle.
and

#2. They feel that they are blessed by their child, and not the other way around.

I feel the same way!

I am so blessed to have this "T'amazing little spirit in my home.

He is brimming with joy, and beaming with so much Love.

These pics go backwards through this last year with my little Hank the Tank.

Daddy and Logan got you to smile for this pic. Everyone loves you so much Henry. I promise not one of us wishes you were a girl.

You are walking up a storm. The teacher at tumble time told me that she hardly ever sees kids with Spina Bifida walk on their own. I've heard of kids with less severe forms than you who don't even walk till their around 3 years old.

I had to throw in a few pics of you with your friends. After you figured out that you shouldn't sit on her, or grab her hair, you and little Miss Myla have become good friends.

All of your siblings adore you. They always stop what their doing, and try to play with you when you go by.

Did I mention you like to get into everything? You found the dryer lint bag. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!

Oops, I left you in the back entrance for 5 seconds.

You love baby Anderson so much. In this pic you went all the way upstairs and got him one of Lays dolly bottles to drink.

Licorice face. Always a classic

The kids took this pic. I was trying to type something without you grabbing the keyboard. This is a natural hold we do on you wherever we go cause you grab everything!!! Side note, do you like my tan?

Nerd-o

You and your bestest bud Ty taking a snooze at the pool.

I love how at the end of this video you turn around and park your big old caboose right in my lap.

You did this all summer.

You try to eat everything!!!!

I think you're in love. Or at least smitten.

I tried to make these rice noodles, but they were gross, so I just let you guys play with them.

You were fascinated with the slimy little things.

First time starting to stand.

This was when you had to have an M.R.I.

The results weren't great, but they could have been much worse.

You are teaching me to take things one day at a time.

 I know that the road ahead is not planned, and lots of things can happen that we don't want to happen, but you are doing great today.

First Birthday

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake!

You have a gift for eating ice cream.

You can down it super fast, and we have never seen you get freezer brain!!!!

You make this face all the time. Yes it is a little freaky.

Awww, you love to snuggle.

And hit people.

First tooth.

I already miss my little baby Henry. Where does the time go?