Christmas has come and gone and it was a whirlwind once again. It was great though. Christmas eve we spent with Jon's family. The kids had a blast as usual..and got spoiled rotten. Christmas day we spent the morning at home. Avery was up at 3am because she heard Santa's sleigh bells, she didn't go back to sleep. Her excitement and innocence was so precious..its something I will never forgot. Needless to say we were all pretty tired. We opened stockings..had hot chocolate and cinnabons as we read the Christmas story and then opened gifts. It was very special. After that we headed off to my parents house for more gifts, food and family time and from there we went to my grandmother's church to have dinner with my dad's family. It was great. Benjamin and Avery both have been fighting colds. So that put a bit of a damper on things, but they still had a great time.

Now that its over we've been hanging around the house...4 out of 5 days this week have been spent in pjs, which is nice. Its nice just to stay home and relax. Tomorrow night the girls are spending time with their grandparents and Jon has to work so Benjamin and I are hanging out, just the two of us. It will be nice. Jon is off next week so I'm sure we'll have a few fun outings with the kids before we get back into the swing of things. I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and are enjoying the holidays.

Only a few more days until Christmas and things around the house are busy. Avery celebrated her 7th birthday today...she had a great day. I've been working a bit again so that's keeping me going, plus I've been doing lots of holiday baking.

Benjamin is doing great. He had his 18mth check up last week and he weighs 27lbs 6oz and is 31" tall. He's getting so big. Every day I notice him reaching new things. He can get stuff off the counter, climb on the couch and press the water dispenser button on the fridge. Its crazy how big he is. He seems to be fighting something right now..he's been very mucousy and I don't know if its just his Asthma acting up or if he's fighting a cold. He's acting normal, not wheezy and doesn't have a fever. So we're just watching and praying that its nothing. He hasn't gotten worse over the past two days so that's a good thing. I'm nursing him like crazy too and that will help for sure.

I'm sending out a holiday prayer for all of you...that your Christmas will be wonderful and you will be safe. Give your loved ones and extra squeeze as life can change in an instant. Merry Christmas.

Although its not looking much like winter yet, we do have a small amount of snow. Benjamin was so small last year he couldn't yet enjoy the snow. This year is a different story. Yesterday I dressed him up in all his gear and sent him out with the girls. He seemed to really like it. At first I wasn't sure how he'd feel since the first time I put snow on his hand he kind of whined and shook it off. But it was all good. He had a great time with his sisters.

Things are good. Not to much has been happening around here. We've been busy as usual. Benjamin is doing great. We haven't had any issues with his health so I feel blessed. He's had a bit of a cough, but nothing more. I know there is lots going around so we're keeping our fingers crossed. We haven't put up the Christmas tree yet. I think maybe tomorrow. I'm worried about Benjamin getting into it...but with some firm redirection I think he'll be ok. I'll post pictures once we are done. We have a busy weekend. Avery's birthday is coming up on the 21st so we're doing her party this weekend. We have to do the girls parties outside of the house to avoid 8-10 extra germy kids in the house. Avery chose a gymnastics party so it should be fun. Other then that I have nothing to tell you. Next week Benjamin has his 18mth check-up so I'm interested to see how much he weighs. I think he gets a needle too :( poor boy. Anyways, I'll post some pics and an update too. I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season.

Our Christmas pictures turned out pretty good. I went in without any expectations. I figured pictures with a 17mth old could go either way. Thankfully he wasn't crying, he wasn't smiling either, but I consider them a success.

Things around the house have been busy as usual. Benjamin and I have done sme Christmas shopping together, which has been a total disaster. I don't know why I thought taking a 14mth old shopping would be a good idea, but it wasn't. He definitely has a mind of his own and doesn't care where mommy is...he just goes. Needless to say, the rest of the shopping was done online which makes the world a better place :)


The Christmas season is in full swing and I am loving every minute of it..well every minute I don't have to be in a mall or near Walmart :) I have finished my Christmas shopping and am looking forward to the next few weeks as we gear up for the big day. I love Christmas and everything that goes along with it. I feel so blessed and am just so looking forward to being with my family. Over the past year and a half Christmas has become so much more, which I never thought was possible. I always thought I treasured every minute, but now realize I didn't. This year I will not be caught up in the madness..shopping is done and now I can relax. I can just focus. I am so lucky, I am so blessed and I am so thankful. This Christmas is also going to be hard...most of you know my niece passed away unexpectedly in January. Christmas will have a different tone..and we are struggling to come to grips with that. I find the girls becoming more emotional as Christmas approaches and I wish I could just take all their tears away. I feel so helpless. We have decided to buy Mekena a gift still and donate to the Angel tree, for a little girl her age..maybe that will help a little. Please pray for our family as Christmas will be so difficult this year.

Our niece...

A few pictures from around the house.


This shirt says it all.

Who needs hands to eat?

So helpful.

There is not to much going on around here. We had a busy weekend and got to go to the santa claus parade. The kids had a great time...

Benjamin is doing great. I wish I had more to fill you in on, but I don't. Life is good and we are just enjoying our family.

My little monkey is getting bolder and bolder every day. He's exploring and climbing and just being a boy!!!

The weather has been great so we've been spending a bit of time outside...just hanging out.

I love my kids...they are amazing. I'm so lucky.

I remember a year ago our goal was to be home by Christmas..and then my sweet little girls asked the doctor at the hospital if Benjamin could pleeeaaaase be home by halloween. I remember thinking they were overly optimistic....and when it actually happened our first holiday home was fantastic. A year later we had another fantastic halloween. Benjamin went out to a few houses with the girls tonight, but it was cold and it started to rain, so he went back home with daddy.

Life has been good. We've been busy around the house. There is never a quiet moment with Benjamin around. We spend most of our days playing..Benjamin love his blocks especially breaking anything anyone tries to build for him. He is climbing anything possible, terrorizing our pets, and just being a boy. He loves music. I really would like to get him involved with something like kindermusik, but with germy season approaching that is on hold. I think I'm going to start taking him swimming once a week during the winter. Benjamin also loves going for a walk and kicking his feet through the leaves. Its really neat to watch him stop and look at new things. Today he stopped and carefully examined a sewer cover..I would love to know what he is thinking as he carefully pushes his finger through the holes. He also seemed to thoughtfully pick a perfect leaf out of a pile just for me...I love him. He's growing and changing so much. Its beautiful and amazing. I am so lucky.

Benjamin is great...he is super busy and now running all over the place. He has finally mastered walking with shoes on which is great. It took him a while to realize he needed to lift his feet higher, but now he's a pro. Its nice that I can put him down and he can wander around. I don't have to worry about him crawling on his hands anymore..yay. But in a way its a little said. My baby boy is growing up so fast...He's not a baby anymore. Part of me wishes he could stay this age forever. He is definitely a mama's boy. He says "mama" a lot, but he loves his daddy too. If he's up when daddy gets home from work he runs over to the door with his arms up before Jon can even take his shoes off.. He also sits in the window and watches for the girls to come home after school. When he sees them walking closer he starts to wave so enthusiastically. Its very sweet.

We had another appointment today with the eye doctor. Benjamin was a superstar. He woke up at 5am this morning and was very cranky by the time we had to leave. He fought me to get dressed and then sat patiently while the doctor looked at his eyes for several minutes & put in the drops. What a monkey. The not so great thing is that Benjamin's eyes have not improved since his last appointment 8 months ago. He is fairly farsighted, right on the border of it being a problem, him needing classes. The good news is his eyes are balanced and he is not showing signs of this being a huge issue yet. So we wait again for another 8 months unless we notice one of his eyes turning in. If things haven't improved by June then we have to start talking about our options. So that was kind of disappointing, but obviously its not the end of the world. We're just going to pray that things improve over the next 8 months.

Other then that things are good. Everyone is still healthy here (knock on wood) and we're just busy doing our thing. We're hoping for some great weather in the next few weeks before winter is in full swing.

Just some pictures around the house...

Having fun with daddy

Such a big boy.

Ouch..fell in the bathtub.

We celebrated our first thanksgiving home last week. A year ago we were still in the hospital. It was a great day. Jon was actually off so it was nice to have him there to.

The weather was fabulous and we got to just enjoy some down time with the family. We have a lot to be thankful for.

We had an appointment with the pediatric allergist this week as well. She was very happy that Benjamin didn't need his steroid inhaler all summer, but we are already having some asthma like symptoms so we started it again. He'll be on it all winter which will hopefully keep us from making any ER visits for his breathing difficulties. Unfortunately we don't qualify for the RSV vaccine so we're just a cautious as last winter when it comes to germ exposure. We have our flu shot on board now so I'm happy about that.

Anyways, Thursday marks one year since Benjamin has been home. What a milestone. Its hard to believe, but on the other hand it seems like he's always been home. We'll have another little party for him..why not?

We don't have any appointments coming up any time soon. We're getting out a little still before we're in for the winter....

Apples, apples, apples. We went apple picking this past week..Its something we do every fall and it was Benjamin's first time. We had a blast. The weather has been so amazing and we couldn't have had a better time. The girls picked away and even Benjamin picked a couple apples. There was a big play area that the kids could run around and just spend some time burning off steam. With all the apples we've been snacking, making applesauce and pie. So good. Benjamin loves apples and can't seem to get enough. If anyone is eating one he walks over and helps himself. He is now walking full time and just doing so well. What a good boy. Tomorrow is thanksgiving. This will be Benjamin's first thanksgiving home. We have so much to be thankful for its hard to comprehend..despite life's hardships we are thankful...We are so blessed.