HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAKENNA ANN!

Makenna - almost 2 years old!

My baby NOW - 7 years old!
It just doesn't seem like she should be that old! We love you so much Makenna! You are such a blessing in our lives. We are so proud of the little lady you've become! XOXO

(When I figure how to scan I will scan a picture so you can see her when she was a baby! We didn't have a digital camera back in the day;)

Good Morning, Mommy!

Look at what Makenna and Lexi made me this morning! I was back in my room getting Brady ready (we had to see the doctor again today for him because he had another allergic reaction to something and he was wheezing, coughing, grumpy and had some polka dots on his tummy! Doctor said he had another allergic reaction and that we may never know all the cause of it, so frustrating! How can you keep him away from it when you have no idea what it is? )...Anyways, I came out to this wonderful breakfast! What little sweethearts I have :) Makenna also made breakfast for all her sisters because she knew I needed the help since we were going to the doctor. What a great daughters I have :) This made my day!!! (And she knows me SO well...a Mt. Dew, what a great source of caffeine for mommy)

ABF Luau BBQ...

Yummy food and good friends! This was the kickoff for the Adult Sunday School. Most of these gals are in the Tuesday morning Bible Study I attend. It was nice for Brandon to put some names with faces and meet all the gals' hubby's! The host was actually the Physical Therapist Brady went to for his neck when he was 5 months 'til he was 9 months or so. Small town I guess :) He and his wife also have 5 kids. It nice to meet someone else with as many kids as us!!

Autumn having fun :P

Eating lots of yummy food

Bounce, Bounce, Bounce...this is what they did ALL NIGHT! (guess what the girls want now!)

Girl talk

Guy Talk :)

Happy Birthday Auntie Christina!!!!!

Hope you have a wonderful day and we can't wait to see you tomorrow!

XOXO

Look what my husband made me :)

I still need to "age" it with stain or paint...but you get the idea! It's supposed to look like an old grocery shelf. I am displaying all the antiques my Mom and Grandma gave me! I have order a few really neat things and when they come and I get everything in place I will post pictures :) FUN FUN!!!

For Alisa...

Alisa- I wanted you to read this, I got this when I was going through it all with Brady! I know God has choosen you to be a Preemie Mommy for a reason. We are praying that Miss Adeline will be home soon, where she belongs and where you need her to be! Can't wait to meet her :)

How God Picks Preemie Moms

Somehow, I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting His instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As He observes, He instructs His angels to make notes in a giant ledger. "Armstrong, Beth, son. Patron saint, Matthew. "Forest, Majorie, daughter. Patron saint, Ceceila. "Rutledge, Carrie, twins. Patron saint... give her Gerard. He's used to profanity.

Finally, He passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a premature baby."
The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."
"Exactly, " smiles God. "Could I give a premature baby a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel."

"But does she have patience?" asks the angel.
"I don't want her to have too much patience, or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair.
Once the shock and resentment wear off, she'll handle it. "I watched her today. She has that sense of self and independence that are so rare and so necessary in a mother.

You see, the child I'm going to give her has his own world.
She has to make it live in her world and that's not going to be easy."
"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you." God smiles, "No matter, I can fix that.
This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness."
The angel gasps, "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?" God nods.
"If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive.

Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child who comes in a less than perfect way.
She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied.
"She will never take for granted a spoken word.
She will never consider a step ordinary.
When her child says 'Mommy'' for the first time, she will be witness to a miracle and know it.
When she describes a tree or a sunset to her blind child, she will see it as few people ever see my creations.
"I will permit her to see clearly the things I see - ignorance, cruelty, prejudice - and allow her to rise above them.

She will never be alone.
I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side."
"And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, the pen poised in mid-air.
God smiles. "A mirror will suffice."

-Adapted from Erma Bombeck
Motherhood The Second Oldest Profession

Here's What We've Been Up To.....

WELTS...these have been all over Brady's body since the PA thought Brady had a ear infection and then the ER doctor gave him 2 shots of antibiotic for a respiratory infection. Come to find out he had NO infection. No reason for the antibiotics or the allergic reaction from the oral one! Poor guy :( The doctor is keeping him on a small amount of steroids (which we were on a higher doses because he actually has been having a severe asthma attack!) This will help with breaking out too much in these itchy uncomfortable welts. He is also on inhaler instead of the nebulizer for the rescue medicine . See my earlier post for all the details!!!


And here are my adorable children ;) Aren't they so cute?!!! Even though I already know this you can tell me anyways :) The adorable outfit Brady is in is from his Auntie Rachel! And he is walking by himself too. He has taken about 5 steps all by himself! He also stands up from sitting and will shake his little body when we tell him to "dance, dance, dance!" I will have to get a picture of it. It is so cute. He is being pulled a little by his sisters in this picture so he doesn't look as stable as he really is. They just didn't walk slow enough for him. He has been showing frustration when he get "mothered" too much! Let's just say he knows how to make all 4 girls back away quickly ;)





I will post a couple more later after I "play" with them :) Hope you all had a great weekend! I will also be posting my shelves Brandon made me yesterday! I LOVE tem...it is EXACTLY what I was describing to him as I saw it in my head :)!

A Beautiful Moses Lake Sunset & The Full Moon

Our tree is already turning from green to red! Fall is approching :) I can't wait!!!

A beautiful sunset after a 107 degree day! I am so thankful for the cooler day today and the little bit of rain we got last night! I guess more rain and cooler temps are in the forcast for the next couple of days! I am so excited...oh, how I love rain and cool temps :)

Our Weekend

Well, what a weekend we have had! Brandon's parents were here and we spent our time going on trips to the ER & Urgent Care! I am so tired! My poor little man has been suffering from what we thought was a respiratory infection, ear infection and sinus infection and then adding all that to his asthma and eczema! The ER doctor gave him antibiotic shots to go along with his oral antibiotics, steroids and nebulizer treatments (2 medications through that). He had some sort of "reaction" yesterday afternoon. He broke out in welts/hives on his eye lids and some on his legs. Today at our doctor visit she took about 2 hours with us and explained that sometime ER Doctor's aren't too good with babies. The ER doctor did not have a good bedside manner with us either and I was a bit frustrated by the time we left. She also thinks he is suffering a VERY, VERY BAD asthma attack. She decided it was time to stop doing rescue treatments through the nebulizer and try an inhalator which will be so much faster as it will be one puff instead of trying to hold a very busy one year old for 15-20 minutes to get a treatment by the nebulizer. I am so thrilled about this. It will mean a much faster response time and hopefully he will feel better faster in the future. His lungs were/are very inflamed she said by looking at the x-rays. He was in great distress and thankfully he is getting better. We stopped the oral antibiotic since the welts/hives was his body telling us he couldn't handle it. We still have to do the steroids because he needs them to breathe, it helps open up those swollen airways. Pray for him. He has been through so much this weekend. He has scared me so bad. I feel like I am about to lose it! I am so grateful he is getting better because I might have had a breakdown by now if not ;) We see the doctor again on Wednesday to check in and make sure he is on the right track and getting even better from today!

Here are some pictures of our weekend. I have to add that looking at these pictures you'd never know Brady was in such distress. He tried so hard to be a happy little boy at times. He got tired easily and loved to be cuddled but after a little rest and some lovin' he'd play for a bit. The girls had a fun time dressing up their brother as you can see. I guess we should look into some boy dress-up clothes. This is what happens when you have 4 older sisters! However, Daddy wasn't too impressed with his littlest pretty, pretty princess! :)

SO PRETTY ;)

YEP, time to get some boy dress-up clothes!


We also celebrated the twins turning 4 years old!!! We had a BBQ with Brandon's parents and some friends! Here are some pictures of the twins making cupcakes for the party and at the party.

Making strawberry "pupcakes"

Working together...

...and working hard!

Brady talking on the phone, and standing ALONE!

Time to decorate

Lorelai and Reagan let Makenna and Lexi decorate a "pupcake"

A few presents from friends

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LORELAI & REAGAN!"

Everyone got to blow out a candle!

The girls did a great job decorating! I guess Auntie Rachel has been teaching them a few things :)

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY LORELAI & REAGAN!!!!

NOW

THEN

Four years ago today we had our TWINS!!! Lorelai Faith was born at 8:09am and weighed 5#11oz and Reagan Hope was born at 8:11am and weighed 5lbs 3oz. They spent 16 L O N G days in the NICU because of being born at 34 weeks. The one sweet story from the NICU I will ALWAYS remember is that on one of the firsts days they were in the hospital and giving the girls formula through the feeding tubes and neither one would "eat" both of their tummy's were tight and they weren't relaxing. One of the nurses thought about putting them together in one crib. When she did that they both started to relax and "eat" and from that day on they stayed in the same crib until they were 16 months old! Even now some morning I will peek in on them and one of them will have moved into the other ones bed. It's so precious. I never thought they'd have such a strong bond as they do considering they are fraternal twins and not identical. I guess they are proving me wrong and I couldn't be happier. I love seeing the bond they share.

Dress-up, A Little Nap, Make-up & Hair

So tired after getting dressed ;)

Lorelai doing Reagan's hair

Reagan doing Lorelai's hair

Reagan fixing her hair after Lorelai did it :)

And Lorelai fixing her hair after Reagan did it ;)


Here is the conversation they had:

Lorelai: "Reagan I'm going to make you cute."
Reagan: "Then can I make you cute?"
Lorelai: "Yes, but can you please stand still and put your head up? We can't go to the park if you don't help me out!"
Reagan: "Are you fixing it right?"
Lorelai: "Yes Reagan!"
Reagan: "Are you done yet? I need to make you cute now."
Lorelai: "In a minute, Reagan! You need to put your head back so I can finish, Arg!"
Reagan: "It's my turn now."
Lorelai: "OKAY!"
Reagan: "Stand still or I will pull hard"
Lorelai: "I am standing still, REAGAN!"
MOM: "Girls, be nice!"
Lorelai and Reagan: "We are just playing, Mom!"
Reagan: "Lorelai, quit whinning, it hurts my ears. I am almost done!"
Lorelai: "I'm cute now!"
Reagan: "I need to fix my hair now."
Lorelai: "When your done I need to fix mine too!"

It was SO funny listening to them "play"! This little blow dryer actually sounds like the real thing. It was so cute! I wonder if this is what it will sound like when they are teens and doing each others hair!

Uncle Jeremy Surprised Us!!!

UNCLE JEREMY'S HERE!
(Yes, none of them are matching because I have TONS of laundry to do so I let them pick out clothes today since we are staying home. On all the days my brother came today! I WAS CAUGHT! So see, sometimes they don't match :)

Fun with Uncle Jeremy


Oh, no! I dropped my ring!

We LOVE Uncle Jeremy!

My baby is WALKING!!! He took 2 steps!

He's so proud of himself!

WHAT A FUN SURPRISE! Thank you Uncle Jeremy :)
WE LOVE YOU!

Sunday Afternoon Drive

Today we decided to go for a drive after church. We left around 1:30pm and got back home at 6pm. We had a fun time exploring around. Here are a few pictures from our outing.


Pretty views on the way to Odessa

Brady in the car

All 5 being somewhat patient on the drive ;)

The Odessa Drive-In! Yummy food!

My fry baby

Reagan, Lorelai and Daddy

Lexi and Makenna sitting in their own booth!

The rest of these pictures were taken at Eagle Springs Ranch. It is really beautiful here so I had Brandon pull over so I could get some shots of the kiddos. We have to go back when they have clothes on I don't mind getting dirty. Plus maybe next time we can get some better shots of all 5!