What We've Been Up To

Duane- He has been going to school full time with some pretty grueling hardware classes. They are really starting to get into the parts and functions of the computer, so even though its a challanging class, it's a lot more hands-on, which Duane loves. As far as his knee is concerned, he had an MRI which detirmined that he had another meniscal tear and also a hole in his cartilege. The doctor, on the other hand, did not see what the radiologist saw, so after some consulting with a few different radiologists and doing some more Xrays, they decided to go ahead and move forward with surgery number 3. It is going to be exploratory surgery and hopefully, they will find something to repair so that Duane will no longer be in the excruciating pain he is in. Now, its the waiting game: waiting for Workman's Comp to approve. Have I ever mentioned my servere distaste for WC?

Me: I have been doing a lot of knitting, just learned how to crochet, and reallt just getting the sewing/crafting bug. I have been juggling countless doctor appointments, breathing treatments, administering various medications all day long and trying to keep the babies happy and comfortable. I also started contributing to a fabulous modern mom find and reviewing site, In The Know Mom. I'm the only one who has boys, so to keep mama's with boys equally informed and stylish, I have been having a lot of fun researching and contacting companies about their products. Check out the site, the ladies who started it are amazing and smart and so great at finding the best, modern, trendy, educational, and eco-friendly products. Here are some pictures from my first review of a company called, Fat Tie. Kade LOVES his shirt.

Kade: Because of all of the sickness, bronchitis, ear infections, etc, I decided to pull Kade out of preschool until we get him completely healed. It seemed like every time he would get better, he would go back to school and it would start all over. Then Kellan would get it from being exposed to Kade and it was just a never ending cycle. He has been going a little stir crazy but I've been trying to keep him happy with lots of crafts and play-dough and creative time.

Kellan: Sick sick sick. He has had 5 infections since he was 4.5 months old. The doctor is pretty positive that he is immuned to the Amoxicillin, so they started him on a new one. When we are over this hump, we are being referred to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor to look into tubes, which I'm a little nervous about, but am open to possibilities. This past week has been really hard. He had really high fever and horrible congestion, and suuuuper clingy and fussy but I get a little smile every now and then. Here is a picture of him with his little sickieface, but always mama's boy:)

Grandpa: Dad is doing well too. He caught the bug with the rest of us, so he just got over that but is doing a lot better now. His numbers still look great and his kidney function is still up to about 38%, which is great for when he started so if we keep up the diet and medicine, he won't have to worry about dialysis for some time. We had a family member pass away, so he flew out to Florida to be with the family. It was hard for me to accept that he was going by himself, because I'm a little bit of a worry-wart, but he's doing well there. He is having a good time visiting with people he hasn't seen in decades.

So, that's how it's been nowadays. More to follow soon as I am always camera-ready:)

Park Days

We have a great park a block from our house that has lots of fun things to do, including a baseball field that Kade absolutely loves, where we took his 3rd Year Pictures, and a skate park. When we have some time and everyone is feeling good, we'll get the kids out fo the house and let him go wild. And of course I have to bring my camera everywhere I go.

Kade super excited to go to the park.

He's being a firefighter here:)

Kellan's 2nd time on a swing. My camera's battery died the first time!

This is a different day. There was a break in the rain and the sun came out so we took a quick trip to the park to let Kade run and get his crazy out. And our favorite, Gavin and Aedan and Auntie Sam came with us for a quick breather. No pictures of Kade this day because he wouldn't sit still but good ones, all the same.

Ignore the towel Duane brought to wipe off the slides. Also, Kellan was a little cold so Duane stuck hinm into his sweatshirt:)

The crazy sky that day.

Gavin was stoked about jumping off this ramp with his bike.
"I flew like 10 feet in the air!"

Micke Grove Park

After being sick for a few months off and on, we really haven't had many oppotunities to get out of the house and do something fun, so after Kade had a good weekend, we decided to go with our best friend, Rachel and her daughter, Hailey to Micke Grove Park, an animal conservatory in Lodi that is a favorite of ours. And of course, I didn't take barely any pictures of the animals because well, I'm a bit obsessed wiht our kids haha

Even though Kade was feeling great, it was the start of Kellan's turn to be sick. He got his 2 bottom teeth and the congestion started this day. It was awful and he was so sick and pathetic, but sweet like always. Notice the tired eyes:)

Showing me some monkey or bird no doubt

Kade and Hailey are 3 months apart and have been besties since the day she was born, so Kade always has the best time with her.

The white on Kade's shirt really blew out this picture but you know how it is with 3 year olds, you take the picture when you can!

Sweet LOVE

Kade climbing a tree, being a bad example, of course:)

This is apicture snapped off of my friend's camera. I just had to include it because it's so funny. She got them little snakes from the gift shop. Hailey named hers "Greeny" and Kade named his "Child," because that's what I call him when he does something naughty, so he's being an authority figure I guess haha

It must be LOVE...

That's all:)

Oh, and speaking of love, I have a few new projects planned.

Suddenly Seymour!

I sing that song to Kellan all the time and it is so cute because Kade sings it with me and Kellan gets soo happy. Love Little Shop of Horrors:)

With all the Kade updates and birthday celebrations, I thought it was about time for a Kellan Post.

Kellan turned 9 months old on the 28th and has been doing all sorts of big boy things.

He has recently become obsessed with laundry baskets. He loves to climb in and out of them, take the laundry out, push them around. And he happens to look oh so cute doing it:)

He has been crawling and stand up and cruising on anything and everything he can. He is starting to stand and trying to let go to stand by himself. I love the early mobility stages so much because they start to test their limits.

Kellan is most definately a lover baby. He loves to snuggle and sing and dance and smile and kiss. It's so funny how much he is like Kade with his little personality and how smily and happy he is all the time. He is a mama's boy for sure:)

But has the biggest smiles and laughs for his papa.

He tends to get into a little bit of trouble, getting into everything he can and trying to climb up an down the stairs
He also is self-feeding most everything and using a sippy when he can.

And I just had to include some photos of a super cute beanie that I knitted him, like Kade's. He is not very much of a fan of hats but looks so so cute!

It is so hard to believe sometimes how big and old he has gotten. He is 21.8 lbs and 30 inches long at his last appointment. And 3 more months till he is 1! I already have the party planned in my head haha. I am just really excited to see what the next couple of months has to hold for him and his development. We are so blessed to have this happy, sweet little lovie:)