Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Happy Halloween


Our town had it's Halloween tonight. After dinner we dressed the boys in their skunk and monkey costumes and loaded up the RadioFlyer and off we went to get candy. They were really good, we actually got them out of the wagon and they walked to the door of the first house. That's pretty much where the walking ended. Kolton found a sucker and sucked on it with the wrapper on until he broke through it and was able to get to the sweet sucker itself. Karter of course noticed Kolton in his candy induced trance and wanted some too, so I opened one for him as well. I suppose Kolton's thought process was "if I just sit here quietly maybe they won't notice all this sticky liquid coming from my mouth and getting my really cute monkey suite all sticky.""Maybe if they don't notice, they won't take it away." I'm not kidding after he got the sucker opened he didn't say a word and sat just quietly the rest of the way home. After we got home we put them in their booster seats to finish the suckers and have a few M&M's and then we cleaned them up and dressed them for bed and brushed their teeth. They were in bed by 7:00 and asleep by 7:10. No one got scared and no one threw a fit when we took the last little bit of sucker from them. Fun and candy was had by all.

Daddy and the boys before we left.


They really do love this wagon. I love Karter's little skunk tail.


We stopped along the way to take some pictures. Cuteness to the boys yuckness to the mommy.
As you can see Kolton has gotten the mentioned sucker at this point.


He almost had it unwrapped here. And it's already all over his face.


haha he really looks like a monkey. At sticky monkey.


The End.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

"Overall" He's a Good Boy


I've been playing with Photoshop, but more on that later. This is my entry for the Fall/Halloween photo contest at The Twinkies. The prize is a $10 dollar gift certificate for Amazon.com. I could use a good book!

This photo was taken on the 40 acres that I used to live on when I was little. My Mom also lived there when she was a teenager. No one lives there now, well except for memories, but more on that later too.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Pumpkin Patch

Of course we had to go to the pumpkin patch. I know you've seen it time and time again, you know pictures with kids at the pumpkin patch. For that matter I'm sure most if not all of you have already gone, or are going to the pumpkin patch yourselves, but you've never seen my kids at the pumpkin patch, now have you? They had a blast, moving from one pumpkin to the next, trying to pick them up, crawling and walking all over the place, finally deciding on two little twin sized pumpkins in the end. They were so wonderstruck that they didn't have time to mess with mom and her camera so I only got a few decent shots.


Karter is teething and this is really the first time that he has had trouble with it. His poor little gums are all swollen. Orajel was not doing the trick so I had to give him some Motrin and that seemed to help a lot. I hope those teeth break through pretty fast for his sake and mine, but mostly for his because I know it's got to really hurt.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

15 Months

Tomorrow the boys turn 15 months. Where has the time gone? I am reminded by the two new additions to our family just how tired, cranky and worn out we were when the boys first came home. That seems like so long ago. Most of the time I'm like "thank God" that they are older, that was no fun, but at other times when I hold Collin or Kyndie I remember those times when I would just watch them sleep or eat. Both my brother, sister and their spouses are in the mist of the first weeks of a new baby. You know that time when at moments you wonder "what the hell was I thinking", your emotions are all over the place, especially the women, those hormones suck. You are to an extent grieving the life you knew for so long and will never have again, but are celebrating the precious little life that you helped bring into the world. Your new love, your new pastime, your NEW life. I'm so very excited for my boys to have cousins that will be close to their age. I had a wonderful time growing up with my cousins, we had fun and of course go into trouble, but all wonderful memories to me, the games we played, Christmas time at Mamaw's. I look forward to watching my kids making memories.

Lets get to the updates.

Kolton-We have a walker folks. He started walking last week and hasn't stopped since. He's even started to try to run, but usually his legs can't keep up with him yet and he falls down. Other than when he tries to run, he walks well. Looks like he's been doing it forever and bends down to pick up toys or something he has dropped. He just this week has started to carry stuff around with him. It's so cute to watch him try to figure how to carry something and walk at the same time. A week and a half ago we had to make a trip to Urgent Care because he was having to work to breath. He of course was not turning blue, but was grunting and contracting a little. He had started getting a cold just he day before and by the next day, which was a Sunday, his asthma was acting up and I could tell he didn't feel well. Regardless he was eating and playing, but I didn't like the way he sounded when he breathed so I took him in. They did x-rays to check his lungs, saying they had been seeing a lot of pneumonia lately. We where initially told it was just his asthma and instead of giving him liquid Albuterol, he was switched to a nebulizer to us as needed. The next day we got a call from Urgent Care saying the radiologist reviewed the x-rays and felt he may have a little pneumonia and put him on antibiotics. So this past Thursday we took him to our Ped. for a recheck. He sounded fine and within a few days his nose had stopped running and he had stopped coughing. We have not had to use the nebulizer in a week and he looks and acts like he feels much better. While at the Ped. since it was so close to them being 15 months the doctor did a short exam and called them good. This flustered me somewhat because I had not planned on them having their 15 month check-up this day. The nurse didn't get to do all her normal measuring and stuff, just weights because she too was not expecting it. I'm a bit irritated that we didn't get heights on them, I plan to do it at home now. And I don't feel he did a thorough exam on them. He then said he didn't need to see them for 6 months. I didn't catch it at first but I thought they needed to be seen again at 18 months, then at 24 months. I'm calling them tomorrow to check on this. I've thought about several times switching Peds, but there is several reasons I haven't. One, I like our Ped, he's a nice man, but I want him to be more thorough, I'm not sure how I want him to do this, I suppose to explain things more and not just assume I don't care or that I don't or won't understand. Two, I don't really know any of the other Peds and I'm afraid if I switch I won't like them. I want someone who will think my kids are just as important as I do, or for them to at least pretend like it. Sorry about he rant, back to Kolton. He is cutting two more teeth on top, I believe they are his first molars, he's done pretty good so far, but was a bit cranky today. He weighted 24lbs at the Peds the other day. He had all his clothes on and I believe he probably weighs 23lbs. He eats well and loves to have his teeth brushed.





Karter-He is also walking, not quite as good at it as his brother, but he's getting there. They both started walking in the same week. He too can bend over and pick up a toy and it starting to carry things around as well. He has the more typical Frankenstein walk that toddlers do. He falls down or losses his balance sometimes but it really doing quite well. He didn't have to make a trip to Urgent Care. He got the cold but not as bad as Kolton and does not have asthma so he didn't have as hard of a time as Kolton did. I think we have FINALLY gotten his eczema under control. I'm sure it helps that he is not always crawling. We have two creams that we apply depending on how bad it is and this past week we have only had to apply it once a day. He has no visible breakouts. This is wonderful because at times it bothered and itched him and he would scratch until he bleed in his sleep. I hated that as I'm sure he did. At the doctor the other day he weighed 23lb but also had his clothes on so I'm taking a pound off and going with 22lb. Once again I don't know how tall he is but they both look pretty close to the same size. He is getting one tooth on top a molar and at this point has not had a problem with it. He does not like his teeth brushed but loves to play in the bath and loves to pull soft blankets off the couch, out of his bed, or out of the clean laundry and lay his cute little head on it. They both only use their binkies in bed and still get a water bottle. I have started saying to them each night before I sing them their night night song, the prayer I used to say as a child. They both like night night time and usually are almost asleep before I leave the room. They are sleeping through the night, with an occasional wake up. Their naps are a little wonky now, sometimes trying to nap in the AM, with no nap in the PM and sometimes no nap at all and sometimes a nap in the afternoon but it's shorter than it used to be. We will have to work on this cause momma needs at least an hour break at some point during the day.




I can't believe that my tiny little preemie boys are 15 months old. This is such a fun, fun age. We can't wait for all the holidays!



Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Another New Baby in Town.


Announcing the birth of my niece(my sisters daughter) Kyndie Cheyenne. She was born today Oct. 10 at 7:36 pm. She weighed 6lb 12oz and was 18 1/2 in. long. I got to be present for her birth. My sister did an awesome job both baby and mommy are doing great. She's so stinkin cute and has the most adorable little cry.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

There's a new baby in town.


Announcing the birth of my nephew(my brothers son), Collin Rantz, born on October 7th at 12:49am. He weighted 7lb 12oz 18 3/4 in and came into this world screaming. He's so cute.

We are now waiting the arrival of my niece(my sister's daughter) very soon. My sister-in-law and sister are due a week apart.

It's been an exciting, busy, exhausting two days. My kids are sick with allergies that are making them miserable. This in turn kicked Kolton's asthma in full force and we had to make a trip to Urgent Care this morning. His O2 stats where fine so we didn't have to go to the hospital. He was given a breathing treatment and we now have a nebulizer at home to give him breathing treatments. He's resting much better now, but now Karter's nose is stopping up and I've been up with him twice so far. I'm exhausted from being up so late for Collins birth, and probably will have an exhausting week due to their sickness, but it's all worth it.

No pictures today, I haven't taken any for several days.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Someday I will...

While visiting Barrbabies I came across her post titled "Someday I will" as I read further I realized that it was something I could participate in too. It actually started here at Letters to My Daughters, go have a look, you can participate too. Simply write a post that finishes the sentence Someday I will. Link to her blog in your blog, then leave where your post can be found in her comments by Friday 12:00 noon EST. Sounds like fun to me.

Here goes.

Someday I will tell my sons how very much they were wanted. How we watched them grow from inside an isolette. How I prayed every night and sometimes at their bedside while in the NICU that God would send his Angels to stand beside their isolette and crib. To watch over them when Mommy and Daddy could not be there. I prayed that not only would those Angels provide comfort to my two tiny little babies, but that they would be with the Doctors and Nurses caring for them as well so that mistakes wouldn't be made and problems could be caught early. God gave me comfort in those times when I had no control over what was happening. I felt peace envisioning the Angels, one for each, standing peacefully beside their bed. I now ask that those Angels stay with my sons throughout their lives to help keep them safe. Someday soon I will tell them of Jesus and what he has done for them and for me, how he died for us. I will tell them I am fulfilling a promise I made to God to teach them of His teachings.

Someday I will play in the mud with my sons and not freak out over how dirty they will get. Someday we will go to the beach, where daddy has his fondest memories and create memories of our own. Someday hopefully they will know the love that a parent has for their children. Someday I will know the love that a grandparent has for their grandchildren.

Someday I will.


When I began writing this I had no idea where it would go. I am quite suprised that it has gone where it did. I usually don't speak of my personal belifes very much here on the site. It's usually all about the boys or our lives where the boys are involved. At times my heart is heavy with the memory of that very hard time on bedrest and then the NICU. It of course was not what I had envisioned for myself or for my babies. It happened. Physically they are fine as am I, well except for a nice c-section scar, but every now and then I am, for some reason or another reminded of bits and pieces of that time and for a second my breath is taken away and my heart skips a beat. Those time are becoming much fewer and far between but are still there none the less. Having preemies is a very traumatic thing, or at least it was for us. Hopefully someday I will NOT remember every little detail of those times and as the physical scars on my sons hands and feet fade so will the scars on my heart.

I can't say all that and not give you pictures since pictures is what you really come here for.

I give you Batman and Robin.


Just hanging around her waiting for some crime to happen.



Boy Wonder says Hi.

I thought the Skunk and Monkey where cute, once I got these on them they are so cute too. Now I will have trouble deciding which ones to use. Decision, Decisions.