Wow...a WALKER!

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We're getting there! Enjoy!

My Very Sick Baby

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Poor Brady. He is so very sick. About two weeks ago I was telling a friend, "Brady's had a cold before, but he's never had a fever or been really sick." Famous last words! (Shouldn't I know better than that by now????) Anyway, Brady and the boys had pink eye last week. We went to the doctor for meds to cure the pink eye and walked away picking up something else...RSV!

Mommy and Brady spent most of Monday in pediatric urgent care. He had a relatively high fever (anywhere from 101-102.8) on Saturday and Sunday. When we gave him Tylenol or Ibuprofen, his fever would drop and he would be in good spirits. He'd crawl and play and even took seven steps! I had decided I would take him in on Monday if he still had a fever. What I did not expect was what happened when he woke up on Monday morning. He was laboring to breathe. He was having difficulty breathing and pushing really hard to get air in and out. He also was extremely congested to the point he was gagging on it. Hence, we went to an excellent pediatric urgent care center not too far from home. The doctor was with us within minutes of triage and they had him started on his first breathing treatments minutes after that. We spent the day getting tests, chest x-rays, suctioned, and having multiple breathing treatments. Diagnosis...double ear infection and RSV.

We were able to come home with a breathing machine and drugs to help Brady heal, but the next 24-48 hours are critical as far as hospitalization. He is still laboring to breathe a little bit and if we can't get it to subside doing treatments every 2-4 hours, then I have to bring him to the children's hospital in town. Please keep precious Brady in your prayers. He's not too thrilled with the eye drops (for pink eye), antibiotics (for ear infections), breathing treatments (for RSV), suctioning with the bulb (to get the mucus out), and nose wiping about 8000 times a day. Poor guy! Please pray that he will recover 100% and quickly.

One last note...I had a lot of friends and people who commented on my unwillingness to bring the twins out and about when they were babies. I kept them home for four long months and didn't go anywhere. They were preemies and it was RSV season. Now more than ever, I am thankful that I listened to my gut and protected them to the best of my ability. RSV is serious, scary and not fun in any sense of the word. And it's extremely dangerous for preemies...so instead of telling your friends they are crazy for being overly cautious or rolling your eyes...praise them for their determination to keep their baby well!!! :)

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

Our adopted son, Brady.

My tears flowed during our church service today. It is "Sanctity of Human Life" Sunday and we spent the morning in God's word studying God's design,love, and purpose for human life. Every book of the Bible, every page is dedicated to the sanctity of life as we are each made in the image of God.

Since Cain and Able, the sanctity of life has been under attack and never before has it been under attack like it is in the years since Roe v. Wade. Here are some current statistics:
There are 42 MILLION abortions per year worldwide.
There are approximately 115,000 abortions per DAY worldwide.
47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least 1 previous abortion.
1% of abortions occur resulting after rape.
6% of abortions occur because of health problems of the mother or child.
93% of abortions occur because of social reasons (unwanted pregnancy, financial difficulty, inconvenience)

Those statistics are alarming. They make me weep. Even more, they make me rejoice and celebrate the fact that our son's birthmother chose life for her child when society has made it so easy and almost acceptable to kill the child instead.

What struck me most today as I sat there was how many of us as Christians say that we are against abortion yet do nothing about it. We are "pro-life." Well, if that's the case what are we doing "for life?" Are we putting our hands and feet where are mouths are? Are we dedicated to praying for the orphans around the world? Are we praying for a spiritual awakening of the people around us who may choose abortion as an option? Are we praying for birthmothers to choose life? Are we giving of our resources (time and finances) to help crisis pregnancy centers, orphanages, and families needing assistance so that they can adopt? Are we ourselves choosing to adopt a child? I pray that we all will uphold the sanctity of life with more than our words.

Which is worse???

The eyes got worse as the day progressed...can hardly open them...poor baby!
Mason with pink eye!
Mason eating pecan crusted tilapia (his new favorite) with his new hair cut!

I keep asking myself which is worse...the haircut or the double pink eye??? Poor little Mason. He's quite a sight at the moment. Two days ago Michael came home from the local hardware store and immediately asked, "What is wrong with Mason's hair?" I looked over and saw four bald spots on the top of his head. I started to panic...when did that happen? How long has it been falling out? Does he have some sort of disease?

Michael came out of our bathroom and announced that there were clumps of hair in the bathroom all over the floor...and on the counter were my scissors. Looks like someone was getting a little creative in the bathroom while Mommy was cleaning the kitchen! So, he looks ridiculous and kinda cute like that... I offered to cut it shorter so that it wouldn't be as noticeable, but he is rather fond of his handiwork and opted to keep it that way.

Today, he woke up with a massive case of pink eye. Both eyes are oozing and he can hardly open one eye at all. (Of course, it's not just Mason, though. All three boys have it). So, while waiting for the doctor to come into the examination room I looked at Mason and just had to laugh. Between his hair and his eyes...he looks a mess!!! I think this is one mental picture I will treasure in my heart for a very long time!

Growing Power!

Mason is loving our "winter" season!
Lunch!
After a trip to our farmer's market...all ready for juicing!

I took the twins for their five year check-up today and they did great! Trips to the doctor are so much easier these days. Anyway, they are healthy and growing like weeds. I still get the jaw-dropping expressions from strangers who find out that they are twins rather than a year or so apart, but they are both staying on their own individual growth curves. Here are the stats:
Caleb: 46 3/4 inches (off the charts) and 42 pounds (60th %ile)
Mason: 42 1/2 inches (45th %ile) and 34 pounds (5th %ile)

I bought a juicer with my birthday money and LOVE it, LOVE it, LOVE it. I even made juice with the boys last night and told them that the vitamins in their homemade juice has "growing power!" They loved the thought that it would make them grow and they liked the juice, too! I've never given them juice from the store because of all of the sugars/sweeteners, so this was a real treat. They couldn't even taste the carrots Mommy snuck in!

I drank my lunch yesterday...an apple, 1/2 small peach, 2 strawberries, 6 baby carrots and 1/2 of a yellow squash. It filled one glass and I was stuffed!!! I highly advise investing in one of these little machines...super fun and super growing power, too!

Little Feet

Look at me!
Can you see my four top teeth???
Brady pulled a pear off of our Christmas tree and held it as he walked around with his little grocery cart! He eventually put it in the cart!

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My most recent plate creation...the lighting is bad and you can't see that the snowman are sitting on a pile of snow!

I love the feet of my little ones. There is something so precious about a tiny foot. When the boys have portraits taken...yep...they are shoeless. I have several plates that I have made as the boys have grown and of course, they have their footprints on them. I've been eager to get Brady's done, too, so before the holidays I spent an evening creating and capturing their feet. I made a winter plate that I can leave out during the season.

Speaking of little feet, we definitely are on the move around here! Brady is changing before our eyes. He got two different kinds of walkers for Christmas and he loves them both. It's so funny because he'll crawl over to his walker, stand up and practically run to his desired location...which is sometimes the kitchen, sometimes the laundry room and frequently his big brothers' toy room (which gets him "relocated" quickly by an older brother)! It's so funny to see him on the go.

Brady has also taken as many as four independent steps. He's so stable and can stand in one place forever, so I know he could do more. He just slowly squats down to crawl because it's the quickest way to get somewhere!

He also now has SIX teeth! What does that have to do with little feet? Well, he uses those teeth to try to bite the shoes he despises wearing so much! :)

Holiday Highlights

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Happy Birthday Jesus! We make a cake every year!
Pop Pop and Brady enjoying a beautiful day outside!
With our cousins, Ryan and Jake!
Christmas at Michael's parents
On the Shamu Express at Sea World...it was freezing! We had on long sleeve shirts, sweatshirt jackets and winter jackets on top of that!
The boys rode this 6 times in a row...there was no line!
Brady's 1st Christmas! He loved the toys, but totally didn't get the whole unwrapping thing!
This is one of the structures at the HUGE indoor playland we went to. There were manual powered trains, castles, bounce houses, huge slides, trucks, movies, basketball, air hockey, forts, etc. Such fun!
It was very cold in San Antonio...they boys thought it was fun to bundle up!

We had a great 10 day trek across Texas. We refer to it as "The Texas Triangle." We went from DFW to San Antonio to spend the holidays with Michael's parents and then over to Houston to spend Christmas with Kelly's family. The boys did well and we are thankful for modern technology as they could watch video after video to pass the time as we drove.

In addition to spending time with family, some of our trip highlights were going to SeaWorld in the freezing cold, visiting two indoor playlands, watching a spectacular display of Christmas lights, a date day for Michael and Kelly, and of course watching the boys' excitement as they saw that Santa had actually eaten the cookies we left out for him!