Wednesday, January 26, 2011

My new toy!!!

After much use, my Sony camera decided to quit working. All of my recent pictures have had issues with the light, and look like over-exposed film. I have been so disappointed because I haven't been able to take many pictures lately.
So, my very sweet husband did a ton of research, hunted and hunted for a store that had it in stock, and got me this new camera. It's a Canon s95, and I absolutely LOVE it!
As if I needed another reason to take more pictures.... well, I just found one!


Sunday, January 23, 2011

3 months old

Nolan turned 3 months old a few days ago. He's getting big so fast! He loves to smile, 'talk' and interact. Did I mention he loves to eat? He loves to eat!

(My camera has started acting up, so pictures are coming out blurry with strange lighting effects. Hoping to get a new one soon!)

Nolan and grandma


...with Aunt Melanie

...with Great Grandma Pollard

...with Papa Starr

I thought this was just the cutest thing ever.










Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Monday, January 17, 2011

Happy Birthday, Granny!!

We had a surprise birthday party for Anthony's mom on Saturday. She was very surprised, to say the least!
All of the kids, some of the grandkids, and a few of the other guests, went in together, and we gave her a money tree.







Happy Birthday, Mom/Granny!
We love you!!!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

What's wrong with this dress?

Kaitlyn got this new jumper for Christmas. It has a monkey on the front, and she loves it. I thought it fit a little strange and didn't hang right, but just figured it was the way it was cut. The tag said it was a 2-piece outfit, but I couldn't figure out why. I assumed it was supposed to come with a shirt, and it was missing. (To be honest, I didn't put too much thought into it.) She wore it over to my parents house, and my mom turned it inside out when she washed it, then hung it up to dry. When I went to pick up the kids, she showed it to me. Here was the dress- both pieces, and the reason it just didn't quite fit right. We had a good laugh! Just another one of those 'Mommy Moments', I guess!!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Breakfast is served!

Making us all breakfast. How sweet!
Let's see... we had pizza, eggs, spaghetti, toast, hot dogs, tons of different kinds of fruit, potatoes, cookies,....
I don't know how many cups of coffee I was handed, but I do know that if I drank that much real coffee, I'd be buzzed for days.... or dead!


Talon Moment

Okay, so I realize my son may hate me when he gets older for some of these posts; but they're too funny not to blog about. Besides, I want to be able to look back and remember the funny things the kids did. So, here it goes...

We've been trying to get Talon potty-trained for a little over a year now. He does great during the day, but at night he still has issues. We think he just sleeps too deep. In any case, this morning after he got up, I had to strip his bed, so I decided to wash all of his and Sissy's blankets at the same time. Let me tell ya, it's quite a full load. If you only knew how many blankets the two kids have between them!
Usually, I strip the beds, then immediately put new sheets on while the others are in the wash. The kids aren't even aware of it most of the time. Today, I decided to wash them, and then put the same ones back on. Talon went in his room after breakfast, then came out and asked me where his blankets were. I told him that I had to wash them because he wet his bed. End of discussion.
Later in the evening, he came up to me...

Talon: "Thank you for washing my blankets, Mommy, they smell good!"
Me: "You're welcome! Now Mommy needs to go wash the sheets on her bed."
Talon: "Mommy, did you wet your bed, too?"

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

More Pictures of Nolan's 1st Christmas

Some more pictures of Nolan. (I had forgotten I took these. I found them buried amongst others on my camera card. What a pleasant discovery!)
Hope you enjoyed your 1st Christmas little bug. We love you so much!



Enjoying the lights on the tree



Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Our little Hop-Along-Kaitlyn

As some of you know, Kaitlyn injured her right leg on Thanksgiving. She was playing, and we aren't sure if she twisted it or landed on it wrong, but we do know that she hurt it. We didn't actually know something was wrong at first. We thought she was just tired, fussy, and wanted to be held constantly. It wasn't until I tried to put her down and have her walk, that I realized she wasn't able to bear any weight. We took her home that night and gave her Ibuprofen, then took her in the next day for some x-rays. She is usually very stoic and doesn't complain when she hurts... unless she is in a lot of pain. This is how we knew something was really wrong. Even at the doctor's office, he had a hard time pin-pointing exactly where she was injured because she wouldn't show any sign of being in pain. She's pretty shy, and wouldn't even look at the doctor, but I could tell by the way she would glare when he was putting pressure on her leg, that it was hurting her.
The x-rays looked normal- which is not unusual. With hairline fractures, and where the fracture isn't complete, many times it's not until the bone starts healing that you can see (on repeat x-rays) where the injury actually occurred. We thought we had it narrowed down to somewhere between the knee and the ankle. Dr Kilty's advice was to take her home and let her do activity as tolerated. So we did. We didn't push her, but tried to see what she could handle. She kept off of it completely for about 3 days. We were told to bring her in if she wasn't starting to get better in that amount of time. The injury happened on Thursday, and by Monday she still could not put any weight or pressure on her leg. I took her back in. Dr Kilty said that kids tend to limit use on their own, and that he wouldn't cast it unless it showed a complete fracture, or something that wouldn't heal together on its own. So we would have to play the waiting game. We went back home with no real answers.
She still refused to walk, but started to crawl a few days later. She would still cry if it got bumped or pulled on. After almost two weeks post injury, she started trying to walk on it, but with a limp. She even got out the push toy that she used when she first started walking, and used it as a walker (pretty smart, we thought!). She seemed to keep re-injuring it while playing around- once on her own, and a couple of times with her older brothers' help. To be honest, we were a little frustrated. We thought some type of immobilization device would help protect it.
We decided that, since they weren't really going to do anything but watch it heal, we wouldn't take her in for a while and see how she did. We took her back in after a month (which was about 2 weeks ago now), because she needed to get her flu booster shot. She had twisted her knee about a week before, and now it looked like her right foot was rotated out when she walked. Fabulous! Dr Kilty decided to get more x-rays. He was unsure, but it looked like there may be a small injury to her knee. He referred us to a pediatric orthopedic specialist, and this is where we are.
We can't get in until the 24th of January. She is walking better, but still limps at times. She still can't really run, and still complains if you grab her around her lower leg. So I guess we'll see.
She doesn't complain much, but tells us from time to time, "I got a ou-weeee!", and points to her leg. She's such a little trooper!!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Welcome 2011!

And here we are, the first night of the year.... 2011!!
Wow, is it possible that 2010 is already in the history books?
This last year brought a lot of changes for our family. None necessarily bad, just... different! I am happy to be living close to my family again.
We were so blessed to welcome Nolan into our family this year. What a joy he's brought to our lives!
Anthony started playing the guitar in February, and is already really good at it. He studies hard, and is learning the theory behind what he's playing. It's amazing to me, because I play the piano by ear, and he already passed me up months ago! I love hearing him play. He is definitely talented!
Talon and Kaitlyn are getting bigger, smarter, and more and more fun every day. I love watching them grow and develop their own little personalities and character. It makes me emotional, a little, as I reminisce over the past couple of years. I know that we will only blink and they will be grown; but I am so very thankful that God has blessed me with the privilege of being part of their journey through life and, ultimately, to eternity!
I've been reminded over and over again, how important it is to make memories and take time for people. Time is the only thing we cannot replace. It keeps marching on. Things and possessions are not what matter. We may not live in a fancy house and drive fancy cars. Our kids may not wear the most expensive clothing and have the latest and greatest toys. I may not be up on the newest technological devices. But we have God. We have Truth. We have the love of each other, our family, and friends.
So, the kids are in bed; my sweet baby boy is laying in my lap, cooing, smiling, and 'chatting' at me; Anthony is serenading us with his guitar playing in the loft; the dogs are sacked out on their bed; the kitchen is still quite a disaster from dinner, and there's laundry to be folded. I got called off from work, so I got to spend the night at home with my wonderful husband and family. I feel so blessed. God has been so good to us!
Looking forward to what's in store for this year. It's kinda refreshing to think that we have a brand new year ahead of us... just like a clean slate. I plan on making it the best one yet! Hope you all have a happy and healthy 2011!