Random Cousin Fun

This trip has been great! We are having so much fun with everyone. I love that both families are close so we have enjoyed time with everyone. A big highlight of the trip so far has been the arrival of Echo and the kids. We haven't seen them in a year and we are just soaking up every minute with them. Tayden is especially enjoying some quality Mennear cousin time. We haven't done anything but have fun!

So far we have spent many hours at numerous playgrounds. Tayden is really getting the 'hang' of the monkey bars. He made it about half way across by himself! He is a strong little bugger.

Whoopsie! This picture was supposed to be in a different post, but since its here. Tayden made a thank you card for Brad after he got his stitches. This is the first real picture he has drawn that makes sense. (He's never really been into coloring or writing or anything like that...so this was a proud proud moment for me.) His hair is the purple scribbly line on top and his stitches are the big line across his eyes. He also is doing great writing his T's an A's. I'm sure proud of this picture.

Back on topic. More Fun! We went to Ice Age 4 today and the kids loved it. Tayden did pretty great. He got a little restless towards the end, but he loved being there with Coda and Gracie. 

We've also been spending hours at the table playing with play doh. Again, this is a new interest of Taydens. He hasn't really ever had the attention span for fine motor stuff, but he played for an hour the  other day. He made this birds nest. He was so proud of it, I just HAD to take a picture.

More cousin fun. Coda is the best big cousin ever. He has so much patience, is a huge help and has played with Tayden better than I could have ever imagined. This morning he read books to T for half an hour. He loved every minute of it. 

Beckett, as always, has been enjoying some delicious treats and snacks. This afternoon he devoured a chocolate pudding cup. Boy loves to eat.

And last but not least. Batman. He is super fun. 

Its been nothing but a huge bundle of fun. In fact, everyone is hear chatting now and making it super hard for me to concentrate on writing. So I'm calling it quits for tonight. 

I gotta get back to the party!

Coping

How have we been coping with being so far away from Dad?

Well today, we played Spider man with dad over Skype.

It was fun and helped little T lots.

I like to think it helped his daddy too.

And then we filled some extra time soaking up our newest sweetest little cousin, Aimslee. Scotts sister, Sharlee and her husband Jeff just welcomed this sweet little girl into their eternal family. I couldn't be happier for them. She is just the sweetest thing I have ever seen. 

See, I told you. Just the sweetest thing. We love her so much.

Only 13 more days until we get to see our main man.

Can't wait.

Stitches

My mom and I took the kids to Brooklyns Playground to enjoy some lunch at the park, a little playtime and...Taydens first stitches. He was running up some steps when his foot slipped and he hit the edge of a stair with his head. A river of blood gushed down his face and I knew it was bad. Luckily, my mom had a blanket that we used for the picnic and we immediately applied pressure to stop the bleeding. There was a nice man who saw everything and grabbed his first aide kit from the car, gave us some clean gauze and we were off to sew him up.

Thankfully, one of my closest friends dad is a nurse practitioner. I practically grew up in their house, so I trust him with my life. The minute I knew he needed stitches we called Brad for his steady hand.  I knew he would take care of us and do a good job with Tayden. It was so comforting having someone I know take care of him. It didn't feel like a doctor visit, rather a chat with a friend who happened to have a needle and thread in my sons head. I am so grateful for Brad and the phenomenal job he did. 

Tayden was a champ. He quit crying quickly after it happened and only started again during the shots. Which, by the way, was awful. He cried pretty hard and I had to hold his shaking hands down while he was being injected with the numbing shot. Not my favorite part. But, after the sting went away he calmed right down and didn't move a muscle during the stitches. Wait, I take that back. At one point he did try to shoot me with his spiderman web. Although it got a laugh out of him, we had to have him stop because it was making him wiggle. He did great. I am so proud of him. I couldn't believe how wonderful he did. 

Warning, the picture below is kind of yucky!

This is right after he got it cleaned up and the blood washed off his face. It looked so much better after it got cleaned. I thought it was going to be so much worse. Although, it was only a layer away from the skull.

And 11 sutures later..

He was all fixed up.

Did I mention this happened right before nap time? Beckett slept through the whole thing. I was so relieved to have my mom there to help me. I don't know how I would have handled it without her.

After it was all said and done, we took Tayden to get a milkshake. He picked M&M and couldn't have been happier.

As sad as this was, Tayden did great. And on the plus side, he proved Scott and I right.

We knew this little dare devil wouldn't make it to five without stitches or a broken bone. 

Scotts Phone Unload

Scott just emailed me a bunch of pictures that he took with his phone while he was here with us. Yes, he is gone. We had to say goodbye to him for a long three weeks. But we aren't going to focus on that...lets just enjoy these incredibly cute kids!

 Scotts favorite late night treats. Sonic milkshakes. Sharing his passions with the kiddos.

 Lazy Dog.

 Brotherly Love.

 Tayden was begging Scott to take this picture. 

 Laughing in the grass.

Love this picture. Makes me miss my husband so much already!

Thanks for sharing these pictures, Honey! We love you. And miss you.

SO MUCH!!!

Grandpa

Tayden and Beckett are so lucky to have such wonderful Grandpas. We've been able to spend some quality time with both Grandpa Mennear and Grandpa Packard. 

Last night we went shooting with Grandpa Mennear. Tayden had fun shooting the big gun with Grandpa and can't wait to go again.

Today we went to Inkom to go fishing and ride some four wheelers with Grandpa Packard. Unfortunately we didn't catch any fish but we sure had fun riding the four wheelers. 

We are extremely grateful to have amazing men in our lives that care about us so much. 

Thanks Grandpa(s) for a fantastic time.

We love you guys.

More than you know. 

Let Freedom Ring

Our Fourth of July was full of fun, parades, candy, fireworks, four wheeler rides, and family. Doesn't get much better than that!

Grateful for this wonderful country that allows us the freedoms we have. 

Good News

We have good news! Two pieces of good news.

#1-I had a doctor appointment. It wasn't horrible. First of all, I had to take my boys-and we actually made it. I would have walked out of the office happy about that alone. But, the doctor had some other news that I wasn't expecting to hear. He had my results back from my latest blood work. I had to get a torch test to see if there was any infection affecting the baby and causing the echogenic bowel. I came back positive for a virus that I didn't even know existed. It is a really bad strain of flu. If you get this particular strain while pregnant it can affect the size and growth of baby. Problem is, the test doesn't tell how long ago you had the virus. I few months back, when I was very first pregnant, I was super sick. We all had the flu, but I had it particularly bad. I thought it was because I was with child, but it could very well have been this nasty strain. If that is the case, we may have found the reason for his 'glowing bowel'. When I go back to my specialist for my routine ultrasound they will check the size and growth rate of the baby. If everything looks good and his bowel is clearing up, my doctor said there was a very good chance that I could be removed from the high risk pregnancy team and see him exclusively. If things are still a little sketchy, I'll likely remain high risk. But there is a chance I could get off. And that is good news.

#2-I am in Idaho! Woo hoo! My month long vacation started yesterday. Last night was a rough start. Tayden got sick and threw up quite a bit. We are blaming the early morning, hardly any nap, 9 hour car ride, motion sickness and lack of water as the culprit. He's feeling better today, which I am grateful for. Either way. We are here and it is great to be surrounded by family. This makes me happy most of all.

Hooray for a little good news!