Roberts Family Blog

This week has been full of dog related drama!  It started on Monday night when my parents were driving home to their house after dinner.  There are some dark country roads between our houses, and they spotted a pretty little lab mix doggie wandering by the road.  Well wandering isn't really the correct statement....she was apparently jumping up onto people's cars trying to be let in   My mom, having the big heart that she does, ended up bringing the dog back to their house since she was obviously not afraid of cars and very at risk of being hit.  Once they got her home, they realized she was a puppy, and FULL of energy.  She was tearing around the yard and not listening to any commands.  They didn't have a crate to keep her in (it was at my house) overnight, so we offered to come get her and keep her at our house. 

Of course I immediately fell in love.  She was this beautiful blonde labrador/shepherd mix I think, and she had a heart of gold, and we named her "Blondie".  What she didn't have were manners or training or common sense!  Thankfully, she slept soundly in the crate all night, however the next morning was tough, with her not getting along with my older dogs, and being too bouncy and wild to interact with the kids too much.  Plus, she would take their toys and play keepaway....which I wasn't too excited about.  I made "FOUND DOG" signs and my mom posted them all around the area where she was found, we took her to the vet to have her checked for a microchip (no luck), and called all the local shelters.  Shockingly, no one appeared to be looking for her, which broke my heart. 

A generous friend of mine, who is also a vet, offered to take Blondie for a night, but she had no better luck than I did.  She peed all over the house, stole her husband's wallet and played keepaway, and wouldn't leave her other dog alone.  She was clearly a puppy and her former owners had done nothing to get her trained.  And apparently they had abandoned her on the side of a dark country road.  So...having exhausted all other possiblities, and not being able to keep her for the reasons described above, we finally had to take Blondie to the animal shelter.

My mom had the unfortunate duty of dropping her off, and said it was a pretty unpleasant experience (she called me in tears after the deed was done).  The good news is that she'll be held for 4 days while they wait for her owners to come forward to claim her (fat chance it seems like), and after that she'll be placed into their adoption program.  I believe they can cast a wider net in terms of prospective future owners than I could have.  They'll also get her checked out by a vet, micro-chipped, and up to date on vaccines.  I think she is extremely adoptable because she is very social and sweet, however she needs an owner who is going to have plenty of patience and time to devote to training her.  I feel a sort of weight of guilt about dropping her off, but I feel in my heart it was the right thing to do and that she'll find a great home soon.  I will keep everyone posted, as I intend to call up to the shelter periodically to get updates on our little wild "Blondie".  Here is her picture:

Mom was already emotionally drained by this point, and upon returning from the shelter after dropping Blondie off, she suddenly realized that her dog, Yukon, had wandered into the garage and eaten some rat poison that was laid out!!  Rat poison is HIGHLY toxic, so she rushed him to her vet where they finally were able to make him throw-up the rat poison.  This is the same dog that swallowed a hand towel and required major surgery to remove it 2 months ago.  I swear he has a death wish!  But the good news is that he got it all up and will most likely be just fine, thank GOD!  I'm glad my mom keeps such a close eye on him and noticed when he ate it, because if it had sat in his system for a few days his prognosis would have been much worse.  So much doggie drama.........but as my dad said, the doggie drama will not ever end, as long as we have dogs!

Ok, anyway, onto boy stuff!  What has been going on in our lives....not too much that would excite the blogging public!  The weather has been gorgeous, so we've been getting outside as often as we can.  We all met some friends for a picnic and playdate at the park, and even Pierce got involved in crawling around.  Surprsingly, he can climb the stairs on the playground equipment!  He crawled right up, through the tunnel, and then went down the slide (of course with me holding onto him - but NOT sitting with him - we all remembered what happened to Hayden!).  But wow it's fun to see him starting to be able to do things like play at the park, instead of just sitting in his stroller with puffs and looking on.  Hayden and his buddies Colin and Jack had a great time chasing each other around and flying airplanes.

Hayden is very into the concept of family lately, which I think is very cool and important.  The other day at a different park where airplanes fly directly overhead, my friend Eren had been chatting with her son, Jack, and Hayden about how much they loved airplanes.  Suddenly Hayden told her, "I love airplanes, and I love my family too", just completely out of the blue!  She walked back over telling me what a sweet boy I have, and I had to agree!  He often will pray at night for "my family", which of course also includes Dallas, Lilly and Evi.  When Blondie was going to go stay with my friend for the night to see if they wanted to take her, I told Hayden that she was going to be with her new family.  He looked heartbroken and told me, "No, Blondie is in OUR family".  Awww....talk about feeling like a bad mom for sending the fun puppy away!  But honestly, he is growing into this very affectionate and loving phase, that I can't get enough of.  He'll constantly come hug me and tell me he loves me, and he'll often follow it with, "I love Daddy/Pierce/Grammy/Poppy, too"   The ideas of love and family must be suddenly clicking for him, and he is having fun expressing himself I think.

But along with this newfound affection, I've also noticed that his confidence is growing, and he's becoming much less timid than he used to be, especially with his friends.  I would never categorize him as a bully, but he is definitely testing physical boundaries with his friends.  He'll often say, for example, "Jack, come play with me", and if Jack doesn't follow him, he'll try to pull his shirt, or physically get him to come.  He doesn't understand anything about physical space, or permission.  The boys love to chase each other, and I'll notice that Hayden will sometimes try to tackle to the ground if he catches up.  I know this sounds awful doesn't it?!?  He's such a boy, and I think he's responding this way because his daddy likes to roughouse with him and chase him and tackle him, etc, and he doesn't understand that if someone doesn't want to play that way, that he needs to stop.  He's also into crashing his airplanes/cars/trains into one another, even if the other vehicle is in another child's hands!  So as a parent, I'm trying to figure out how to teach him to respect other children, and to touch them in gentle ways, and not in rough ways like tickling, tackling, pushing, pulling, etc.  What a hard lesson to teach!  It must be quite confusing.  Truthfully, I'm glad that Hayden is assertive and isn't wimpy, but I would NEVER want him to be a bully.  But there is a fine line between being a rough boy's boy, and a bully, and I don't want him to cross it!!

Well Pierce's birthday is fast approaching....only 4 weeks!  And with one week taken up by our trip to Italy, my planning time is dwindling.  I've decided to go with a cowboy theme for the party, and I wanted a cute western themed photo for the invites that my friend Lindsey is making.  So we had a little photoshoot the other day that Pierce was highly UN-impressed with.  I managed to get some cute photos, but he is pouting or terrified in most of them LOL.  He would just NOT keep his "sheriff" hat on either, but actually Hayden loves it and will now refuse to ride Golly Horsey unless his sheriff hat is on, so at least it's getting some use!

Here is one parting photo of my boys enjoying their morning milk and cartoons

We are heading out to ride on Thomas the Train this weekend, so I'm sure I'll be back next week with an update from this exciting event!  Good bye for now.

Hello everyone! Well I am enjoying a quiet Saturday morning and I couldn't be happier to just slow down and relax after a long week. Nathan took Hayden out to check on some of his jobs, and then to a hobby shop where there are model airplanes and remote control car races - boy heaven! Pierce is just playing quietly and giving mommy time to update the blog!

My mom has been out of town in Mexico on a much deserved girls vacation, so I've been flying solo during the day. Aside from a few hours of babysitting help so I could get some work done (although NOT enough), I was basically a stay-at-home momy this week, and it was so much fun and so rewarding. Every week I have the luxury of having a flexible schedule so I can take the boys to playdates and to the park, however I typically have my mom around for at least 4 hours every day to work, and she also accompanies me on outings typically so we can tag team the kids. Even though my job can be stressful, I sometimes look at it as a "break" from mothering, and it gives me the down-time that I need to be a good mom when I am "on duty", so to speak. No discipline, no dirty diapers, no whining, etc! So this week I thought, oh my gosh HOW am I going to survive with no breaks!? And futhermore, how am I going to get out and about with both boys without grammy's help? This is all in addition to all of us missing her company.

Surprisingly, I did great! I was determined not to shy away from outings just because I was alone with kids, and despite some hiccups, we all did great. On Monday I took them solo to Barnes and Noble to read books and play with the train table. On Tuesday I met a friend at Indoor Safari Park and managed to handle both boys with ease (and a little help from Chalna!). Wednesday brought a park outing with some friends, and Pierce happily hung out in the swing while Hayden ran around with his friends, then we all enjoyed a picnic (one minor incident on that outing that I'll get into later!). On Thursday we went jogging and to to the Turtle Pond Park in our neighborhood where we met some great new friends. Then on Friday I loaded them for another trip to a different park, and by that point we were old pros I think it took my mom leaving me on my own for a bit for me to really come into my own, and gain some confidence as a mom of two. Silly that it took a whole year! Furthermore, I happily adjusted to mothering without too many breaks (although Nate is great at giving me "me" time when I need it in the evenings). Hayden is back to taking naps during the day (I think he needs extra rest after being sick), which I think helps relieve some tension in the middle of the day, and rejuventates me for the evening. Poppy has also been around a lot and both boys are totally in love with him and he's a very great playmate. All in all, despite all of us missing my mom's company, we managed to get on just fine! I'll leave this week with more confidence in myself, which was lacking I think And I'm VERY much looking forward to having grammy back in our daily lives

Well I have the saddest/funniest story about Hayden from our park outing on Wednesday. Before we left, he went "brown", so I figured he was all set. I knew he could always go potty behind a tree (the joy of having boys), so I didn't stress too much. Well sure enough when we got there, he asked to go potty, and he did his thing. Immediately after that he asked to go brown.....well we had literally JUST gotten there. I tried to put a diaper on him, but he was having none of that, and told me he would wait until we got home. Saddly, as we were packing up about an hour later, I saw him getting stressed out and sort of bending over under the slide. I KNEW what was happening! I rushed over and Hayden got all flustered and spread his hands in front of him in a gesture of confusion and said, "mommy, I don't see ANY potty chairs ANYWHERE at this park!". Sooo sad. Luckily I had plenty of wipes and a change of clothes, so we got him all cleaned up, but what a lesson to learn! He kept coming up to me and saying "mommy, there are potty chairs at Jack's house and at Hayden's house, but there are NO potty chairs at this park!". From now on I will be lugging his portable potty chair along with us, because that was traumatizing for everyone involved. It broke my heart to see Hayden upset about his potty "failure", which was ultimately my fault and due to lack of foresight on my part, not his! Lesson surely learned for this mommy!

Now I have to change gears and tell you about Pierce's latest sweet sweet trick. When I ask him to hug me, he'll lean in first for a big wet kiss, then he'll gently lay on his head on my shoulder, or my tummy or chest if I'm laying down and just "hug" me. It's his favorite trick, and one he perfected with his poppy, who he is completely in love with. I'm telling you, there is nothing sweeter than your chubby, fuzzy little almost one year old leaning in to lay a kiss on you and then snuggling in. LOVE HIM more and more each day.

I don't have any new photos to share, but I do have a funny video of Hayden signing along to "Fly By Night" by Rush while he watches his favorite YouTube video of Southwest Airlines Airplanes landing and taking off. He really gets into it

Hi everyone.  I finally buckled and bought a new little point and shoot camera with video capabilities.  It was on clearance at Walmart because a newer model is coming out (and I'm sure the fact that it is pink probably had something to do with it!).  It's pretty basic, but honestly I'm pleased with the photo and video quality.  I cannot complain at all!  So this post will be full of new video and pics

So to play a bit of catch up, here is a short clip of cutie pie Pierce clapping, waving, and crawling!

The weather has warmed up quite a bit, which is just so wonderful (and belated!).  I love being able to get outside more with the boys, and see Hayden run all his energy off.  Piercey loves being outside, but he is so not a fan of grass LOL.  I put him down in the yard at my parent's house the other day while Hayden was playing catch, and he was having NONE of it!  This was his response to touching the dry yellow grass.  And here is Hayden with his new baseball glove....after playing catch with Poppy, and Maddie got involved too.

 

It's so crazy that Hayden is old enough to play catch!  Where did my little baby go??  He's actually got a pretty good arm, and he doesn't understand why he can't throw the ball in the house!  Here is another video of him after he found some wooden letters that I used to have on his nursery wall that spell "Hayden".  He was so intrigued by them and excited to see that they spelled his name!

Hayden is turning into such an observant, curious, and super sweet little boy.  Yesterday I took him to this neat place for kids called the Indoor Safari Park in Southlake.  There is a miniature train that the kids can ride on "through the jungle", and he wanted me to sit on the seat in front of him.  So I obliged, and halfway through the ride he said, "Mommy I love you so much" and he reached his arms up to give me a hug.  Oh these are the moments in parenthood that just make up for all of the hard work and frustration and sleepless nights.  He is a treasure. 

Furthermore, he's really into telling me that things are "beautiful", "gorgeous", "silly", "scary", or "cool".  Everything seems to fall into one of these catagories.  Last week we were walking from Barnes and Noble to our car on a very very cold and rainy day.  I was rushing with Pierce in my arms and Hayden trailing behind me, when suddenly he stopped and said, "Mommy it is such a beautiful day!".  LOL - I don't know what planet he was living on, because it certainly wasn't beautiful to me, but how cute!  And I found this super funny.  At the Indoor Safari Park yesterday they also have ride on jungle animals that actually walk around a little loop in the "jungle".  I thought for sure Hayden would shy away from that experience, just given his fears in the past.  Well not this time!  He was ready to ride the dinosaur.  He was patiently waiting his turn on a little kid size bench, when a little boy next to him said that he wanted to ride on the dinosaur as well.  Very seriously, Hayden looked at him and said, "No, you can't ride on the dinosaur, you're too scared".  Where he got that, I have no idea....but I had to laugh!  He was trying to talk this kiddo out of riding on the dinosaur so he could!  Quite the negotiator!

Here are just some more photos from the past week, mainly from our outdoor adventures, enjoying the warmer weather.

Here is Pierce actually playing at the park by our house for the first time.  As long as he didn't touch any woodchips - he was just fine!

Here is Pierce enjoying the swing on our front porch.  I was very proud of Hayden for sharing, and in fact he really wanted to push Pierce, which was sweet.  Finally he did get a turn, and he told me, "Look mommy, I'm a big boy in the swing, like baby Pierce" LOL.

I love these two....Pierce checking out his doggies (he is obsessed), and then later that night, he crawled over to the couch, pulled himself up, and laid his head on the soft blankie because he was so tired.  Sooooo sweet.

Sometimes a boy just needs a nap.........

One of my very favorite photos - Pierce and his poppy.  This perfectly illustrates their relationship.  Pierce is just in love with Poppy and lights up whenever he walks in the room (I think the feeling is mutual).

A like this one of me and my baby boys.

And two last ones...my favs.  Baby on the move, and Hayden looking cool in his shades

One last quick note.  Today is little Noah's funeral.  Please pray for strength and peace for his family.

Hi everyone.  I come to this blog today with a very heavy heart.  I have a distant cousin who lost her three year old little boy yesterday, due to a completely random accident.  I haven't seen my cousin since I was a teenager, and I have never met her little boy, but this just saddens me and scares me beyond belief.  Our children are so vulnerable and so precious, and this just reminds to always always appreciate and cherish every moment I have with my boys.  My heart absolutely goes out to my cousin, but I know she is a Christian, and I know she realizes that God has a plan for everyone, so hopefully she will eventually come to peace with this.  But I know for now her heart is breaking, and my heart breaks for her.  I'd like to request prayers for Jessica, her husband Scott, her son Isaiah, and her son in Heaven, Noah.  Gosh....I can't even type this without tears flowing.  What a tragic loss.

Something like that makes all of our minor troubles just pale in comparison.  We've been going through a second round of sickness with the kids, which has been unfortunate.  Pierce has been dealing with a double ear infection and he has three teeth coming in (his first top one just came through last week!).  Nathan and I are traveling to Europe at the end of March and my sister-in-law is coming to stay with my boys, and I just keep wishing that Pierce would get healthy so that we can start getting him to sleep through the night again!  It will stress me out if my poor sis-in-law has to endure nightly wakings from my little teething monkey baby!  Thank goodness he is so sweet and fun

We've also been having some trouble with Hayden's nighttime sleep.  Ever since we took our Colorado vacation, where he shared a bedroom with Nathan and I, he's been reluctant to go to bed on his own.  Being the brilliant mother I am, I decided to put a CD player in his room that played Dora music, so he would feel more comfortable and have something to look forward to while going to sleep.  While this plan did work for bed-time, it totally back-fired during the middle of the night because he would wake up, not know how to turn the CD player back on, and would come into our room for help (about 3 times a night!).  Ugh....not fun.  So we finally just played tough guy parents and took the music away and went back to our old bed-time routine of reading books, singing, and prayers, and so far so good.  I've been encouraging a "friendship" with a stuffed animal elephant, and I really do think it is starting to give him comfort.  He snuggles up to him every night and hugs "Elly" like a best friend.  The past two nights have been much better sticking to that plan, so hopefully we are on an upward trend with sleep for both boys.

In happier news, Pierce has developed an obsession with our cat, Evi.  It's so cute to watch his face light up as soon as he sees her enter the room, and then he makes a beeline straight for her.  I've seen him make about 3 loops around the couch at top speed in pursuit of her.  It just amazes me how his crawling skills have just taken off in the past month, and he just pulls up onto everything.  Sometimes when he is standing at the couch or train table, he'll take a toy in both hands, and just stand there completely unsupported for up to 10 seconds!!  Walking just cannot be too far away and it's so exciting to think about what a wide world that will open for him.

I recently got a new computer and I can't quite get it to recognize my camera....so I have no pictures to share today   I'll fix the problem soon.  Good bye for now, and everyone hug your babies extra tight tonight.

I apologize for being a blogging slacker.  I feel like for a month now I've been trying to update about the recent developments with the boys, which is what this blog is all about, but instead I've been side-tracked with posts about our ski trip and then snowmaggedon 2010, and now finally I am able to settle down and just write about my little guys and their recent feats of amazement LOL.  Ok let the bragging commence - kidding!!

I'll start with baby Pierce, because I feel like I don't devote quite enough time to him in this blog in general.  Life has sure changed in the past month, and definitely for the better!  His whole world has broadened with his newfound mobility, and you can tell that he is pleased as punch with himself.  Not only is he crawling at lightening speed, but now he can also pull himself up to standing easily and quickly, and can finally sit himself back down as of this week (versus standing there crying and helpless!).  The train table is his favorite place to play probably, much to Hayden's dislike, but little boys have to learn to share right??  Occasionally he will cruise then length of the train table, or the couch, and he just this week is taking a few hesitant steps while holding our hands.  He's not quite as enthusiastic as Hayden was about walking, so it will be interesting to see if he is walking by his first birthday or not.  Only time will tell!  He also just got his two top teeth in the past two days, which I am truely thankful for because they have been making him miserable for quite a few weeks now.  The pain has been disrupting his sleep for sure, so it'll be nice to get back to some nights where he sleeps all the way through again.

In addition to these physical milestones, he's also just been developing by leaps and bounds socially and emotionally.  What a little game player I have on my hands - he loves to be tickled, teased, kissed, blown on, and chased.  Additionally, he has learned to play peekabo with us!  He'll hold a blanket up over his face, then when he reveals his face we say "Peekabo" and he dissolves into fits of giggles, then pulls it back up to start over.  So endearing.  Clapping and waving continue to be really fun activities that he uses to express his happiness and pleasure.  In fact today we went to a story-time at a train museum, and Pierce's little clapping hands would interrupt the silence at frequent intervals LOL.  But along with the good comes the sad, and let me tell you, he is a sensitive little man!  Of course now that he is mobile, he's getting into places that he shouldn't.  One good example is the hearth by the fireplace, where he will sit and play with the glass doors.  We started saying "uh uh uh" to him to let him know it wasn't ok, and he would immediately break down into tears.  I mean BIG tears and wails.  This was no fluke - like clockwork this little boy will burst into the waterworks whenever we scold him, no matter how gently or sweetly.  I guess in the grand scheme of things this is nice, because he responds quickly to discipline, but it breaks my heart!  Unfortunately our video camera was stolen and I can't capture any of these personality quirks on film!  So disappointing.  But he's just the sweetest little monkey and I love watching him grow up like this.  Absolutely the best stage yet.

Hayden continues to be a constant joy, and my best little buddy.  I got to spend an afternoon alone with him yesterday and it was just so awesome to hang out with him.  We chatted together the whole time, and talked like two old friends.  I never just get to focus on him, and it was fun fun fun.  Have to make a point to do that more often.  Well my guy is fully potty trained - hooray!  We haven't had an accident in ages, and he always tells me when he needs to go.  I have to say, it's wonderful not to have to change a gross diaper, but it's also kind of a pain in the butt to spend 20 minutes in the bathroom at a store or restaurant!  Typical man, he takes awhile, and he is modest too, asking me to "go stand behind the door" LOL.  He's also definitely taking after his mommy and daddy, and going through a space shuttle / rocket phase.  Yesterday we took him to Best Buy to pick out a show or movie, and of all things he picked "50 years with Nasa - the Collectors Addition" 5 disk set.  I think the space shuttle launching on the box cover sealed the deal LOL.  Then he marched it up to the check-out counter, all the while telling everyone within earshot about space shuttles launching into space and making loops and being really loud.  Non step chatter box!

And unfortunately naptime has offically come to an end in our household.  It got to the point that unless I would rock him, he would never take a nap on his own, and if he did nap, he was staying up in his room until 9:30 or 10 at night (and coming out every 5 minutes to see if we had changed our minds about putting him to bed!).  So now instead of napping, we do Hayden quiet time in his room, where he gets to take his "little TV" (portable DVD player) and watch his airplane and space shuttle movie for an hour.  It works out nicely because I get an hour to myself to work quietly, and he can just relax in his bed with a show that he likes.  We both feel refreshed I think after that hour!  Then he happily and readily goes to bed around 8 pm, along with Pierce, which leaves Nate and I with a few hours to enjoy each other's company.  So while I'm reluctant to see those few free hours in the afternoon go away, I'm happy for the earlier bedtime!

Here are some photos from the past week or two of my boys

Pierce hanging out at the Interurban Railway Museum with his peeps LOL.  It looks like he is checking out Brooke's butt!  Naughty boy.

Swing time - the weather is finally springing up a bit.

Story-time at the train museum.  Hayden sat so nicely during the whole show, and would contiously clap loudly and exclaim "That's so funny mommy" whenever she was done with a humorous story.

I wanted to capture the little ones enjoying story-time too, and I love this one of Annelie trying to plant a big kiss on Pierce!  She has good taste   Of course Pierce didn't want to sit still.  What newly mobile baby would want to??

Just looking cute at the museum.  He's always so curious and interested!

We hosted Nate's brother Chris and his family at our house this week, and it was so much fun to see Hayden and his cousin Cameron get to know each other.  Hayden of course was completely in awe of his older cousin and literally copied EVERYTHING Cam did.  They were super affectionate with each other, and I caught these shots of them giving hugs.  Hayden is going to sorely miss Cameron.

And here are some photos from our Valentine's Day celebration.  The dresscode was pink, purple or red, and all of our food was cut into heart shapes LOL.  We even had purple and red streamers and heart shaped floating candles.  Super cheesy but loads of fun.  And I have to say I spent V-day with the best looking boys I know!

And the very coolest thing was that as I was packing the kids up to go home after our dinner celebration, in walked my friends with balloons, presents and food and drinks!  They had organized a suprise 30th birthday party for me and it was SO shocking, and so awesomely fun.  I am blessed to have friends and family like this, who go out of their way to make my birthday so special.  Here are some cute photos from that night.

And here are just some parting shots of the kids that I love.  They are such handsome boys and so sweet.

Love PJ's face in the first one, and Hayden's in the second

Yes, it was that day. It was the day that it has snowed more in the city of Dallas than ever before in recorded history! And Nathan (from Colorado) and myself (from Wisconsin), could not have felt more at home. It was perfection, and lovely, and totally normal to wake up to snow falling heavily from the sky on a February morning. However, for the rest of the state, this was absolutely a miracle, and something to be awed and revered. I think I would have laughed in the face of countless news reporters, if it wasn't for my Texas raised children, who have not had the joy of waking up to snow often in their little lives. This really was a miraculous day, and I don't feel ashamed admitting that, even though snows of a foot or more have been commonplace my whole life lol.  Some of the sights were spectacular, and I'll post the photos of the drive between my parents house and mine below.  So beautiful.

This was special, because my kids got to experience it. So what does snowpocolypse Dallas really mean? I think the city of Denton (very near where we live) had a total snowfall of 12 inches, which is seriously almost impossible for Dallas. I first woke up at about 6 am to feed the dogs, and noticed a light dusting of snow on the ground. I woke Nate up to let him know, and then we both went back to sleep. It was shocking at 8 am that the snow was still falling, and even more so at noon when my work day was over and I was able to go pick the kids up from grammy's house. I walked in, asked Hayden if he wanted to go make a snowman, and his response?? "Mommy you go make a snowman and I stay here with grammy". Ummm....no! Not for my little Wisconsin/Colorado blooded boy. So we bundled up and he had a BALL. So much fun!! His favorite activity was throwing snowballs into the pool (how many kids get to do that), and making snow angels. I just loved this experience, and both Nate and I agreed that if it snowed more often here, we'd feel much more at home. THIS is what I grew up doing, and it felt very nostalgic and sweet.

What made the day even more special was that it was Dallas' 7th birthday, and I couldn't have ordered up a more perfect day.  Mom and dad stranded at home, and tons of snowballs to throw, perfection!  I love this pup and I was so happy for him.  And Hayden sang "Happy Birthday" to him about a thousand times - too cute. 

You don't often see snow and palm trees in the same shot!

We rounded out the day with an evening in the hottub with the boys with snow falling heavily while we soaked.  It is funny that we spent a whole week in Colorado hoping and praying for that, and all we got was flurries, and then here in Dallas we get the real deal.  If only this happened every year....I would be thrilled!

Let me just tell you all that I spent over an hour last night updating this blog, and something went wrong and I LOST it all!! So frustrating. I don't really have time to update today, but I'm going to try so I don't let all my memories from the trip fade into oblivion....

Let me start with the day before we were scheduled to leave for the trip. On Friday I took Pierce back to the doctor to get the all clear on his health. The doctor had indicated on Tuesday that if Pierce didn't improve (wheezing and ear infection), that it might not be safe to travel on a plane. Well....honestly Friday rolled around and he was in great spirits and seemed much improved. So the doctor's appointment seemed a mere formality. Not so. Raging ear infection still, and a wheezy chest. WHAT?!?!

Immediately I knew that air travel was NOT going to happen for our little sick man, and at that point I went into super planner mode, trying to figure out how we were all going to get to Colorado safely. Talk about throwing a wrench in the plans!

To be on the safe side, I dragged little Hayden into the doctor an hour later to have his ears checked, figuring that if the antibiotics weren't working for Pierce, that perhaps they also weren't working for Hayden. Bingo - he still had a raging ear infection as well. Futhermore, his chest sounded wheezy!! That poor little boy has been dreaming and talking about going on an airplane for a MONTH now, and I had to try to explain why that was no longer going to happen.

So by now it is 3 pm on Friday afternoon, and it is clear that we are NOT going to be on our noon flight the next day. American Airlines, after a lot of negotiating, was willing to waive the change fees for our flights, which I changed from roundtrips to one-ways home. Then Nate got online and booked a rental car one-way from Dallas to Denver to the tune of a very high and unpleasant price. By 7 pm we were in the car with two little boys and were on our way to Denver - ROAD TRIP!

Let me just say, I don't think I have EVER stayed up all night before. Not fun. Also, we had conveniently blocked out the fact that there was a major winterstorm and ice storm that had just hit Oklahoma, and 2 hours into our trip we were down to 20 mph and driving on a complete sheet of ice. Terrifying. For literally about 150 miles we moved at a maximum of 40 mph, and poor Nate white-knuckled that steering wheel through some very trecherous road conditions. We passed into Kansas onto the tollway at about 2 am, and although the weather conditions had not improved, the road conditions luckily had, and we were able to move safely at a reasonably high speed. Thank god! Otherwise I think we probably would have thrown in the towel and pulled over to a hotel.

Well after a long overnight of listening to Dr. Laura on satellite radio, and drinking about 8 redbulls, we finally pulled up to Denver International Airport to pick up my parents (who took the flight we were supposed to be on!).  We actually beat them, so Hayden was able to watch airplanes take-off and land for about an hour, which was a total bonus   Then off we went to the mountains. As usual, pulling up to Grand Timber Lodge was thrilling, knowing that our week ahead would be full of great family memories and fun snowy experiences, and the unit we got this year was the best ever, with a great view of snow-capped peaks and trees. Nate and I kept thinking of how wonderful it would be to wake up to that view out your bedroom window each morning!

Even though we were there a whole week, it just seems like it flew by! Some of the best memories were made with our friends and family who came up to visit. Since we used to live in Fort Collins, and Nate's entire family lives in the Denver area, we always have a lot of people we want to spend time with, and my parents are generous enough to share their time and space! This year we had two of our good friends and their significant others up to ski with us for a few days, which was AWESOME! And as luck would have it, Nate's mom and sister and our nephew were able to come spend an evening with us too. Hayden just loved playing with his cousin Liam who is a year younger, especially after a whole week with no friends around - just adults! And he was literally so excited to see his mammaw that he was like dancing a jig and smiling so big I thought his smile would crack his face!  He was just THRILLED!!  He wouldn't let her out of his sight, and I'm pretty sure she got enoug hide and seek in to last a lifetime LOL.  So good times all around.

However, for me the absolute highlight of the trip was seeing Hayden ski for the first time, and be as passionate about the sport as I am at such an early age. It thrilled me and gave me a glimpse into the future and all the fun we will have as a family on the mountain. It also gave me a glimpse into my past LOL in that I never had any idea how hard my parents worked to get us on the slopes! As you can imagine, a child is fairly incapable of literally walking in ski boots, let alone carrying gear! It was exhausting, but totally worth it.

We started out by just taking Hayden to the ski rental shop to see if he even wanted to try some gear on. You never know with him, and we certainly did not want to force the issue at 2 1/2 years old. But I should never have doubted him. He was the absolute life of the ski shop that morning - telling everyone how he was going to go on the chairlift and ski down the mountain, complete with hand motions showing him wooshing down the slope LOL. And sure enough as soon as we got his gear all fitted, he wanted to immediately try it out, so we set him up in a snow bank next to our condo to give it a shot. LOVED IT! Cried when we took the skis off. He demonstrated a pretty keen ability to balance in the skis, so later that afternoon we took him to practice on a gentle sloping run near our condo. We were all hooked up with one of the those "wee-ones" child harness systems, and off we went! "Faster daddy faster" was all we heard the whole first time down the hill....while I trudged along with a camera and Pierce on my back in the baby-backpack. Well we got to the bottle of the hill and he was just buzzing with excitement, telling us "let's ski again mommy!". Thus began our arduous journey back to our condo (via shuttle since I was scared to put him on the lift so soon). Obviously, because why not, Hayden needed to go potty before our next run, so the clothes ALL had to come off, and back on again, while Pierce tried to patiently wait in his hot snowsuit in the backpack. Ugh. But we eventually made it back out for a second run where I skied this time and Nate lugged the big babykins along on his back LOL. Tons of work. Super fun!!

In fact, it was so successful that we hesitantly decided to take him on the real slopes on our last day in Breckenridge. I was super scared about the lift, but we found the beginner section of the mountain, and although it was a high-speed 6 person lift, it boarded so slowly that it would have been impossible to mess it up. Thus we were off, all the while with Hayden exclaiming that we were flying, and his daddy and I clinging to him for dear life! But he didn't wiggle at all, and seemed to understand that it was important to sit still on the lift. It was actually smooth sailing on and off! We did the whole route twice around, with his cruising down the hill like a pro and constantly telling me to go faster LOL. He continued to balance well on the skis, although he clearly had no concept of turning or stopping - those skills he will hopefully learn next year when he is old enough to attend ski school. But let me tell you, Nate and I were both beyond proud of that little man, who braved the cold and wind, and uncomfortable ski boots and googles and helmets, all with a complete smile and sense of adventure. I cannot wait to see what all he accomplishes next year, and I'm fairly certain he'll be hitting the double blacks with Nate and I before we know it LOL. And I'm sure he'll ski them better than his out-of-practice/shape parents

In addition to skiing for the first time, Hayden and Pierce both loved the free gondola that "flew" from town up to peaks 7 and 8 on the mountain. My mom generously offered to watch the kids so I could ski, and this was their daily activity - brave woman to do it alone!! We also did a ton of delicious cooking, some hot-tubbing and swimming, and had a few nights on the town (although these were few and far between given the fact that I do have a 10 month old and 2 1/2 year old LOL).

Pierce seemed to grow up on this vacation - completely perfecting his fledgeling skills of clapping, waving, and crawling. Additionally, he learned the phrase "uh oh" from my friend Stacey, and can't get enough of it (while repeatedly dropping something from his high chair to the floor of course). And now since we've been home for two nights he's been playing peekabo with us using blankets, towels, and hiding behind furniture and then popping out. SO CUTE! He's like a little toddler now instead of a baby. Of course we managed to have our camera stolen out of our un-locked car in the driveway just before our trip so I have NO VIDEO of all these cute behaviors...but hopefully we'll fix that soon by getting a new camera.

And as a final note to end this post, I'd like to thank my parents for hosting us for this trip.  As always, it was our favorite week of the year, and I can't thank them enough for their generosity and their absolute devotion to their grandchildren so that Nate I could enjoy ourselves on the slopes and in the hot-tub, and with our friends who came to visit.  I'm fairly certain that my kids are in grandparent withdrawl now that they are home, after all the fabulous attention they got all week.  So big kisses and thank you!

Well this post has turned into a doozy! I have so much more to write about Hayden and potty training (total success lately), and Pierce's feats of growing up, but I'm going to have to call it a day.

Today we got a recipe for playdough from a friend, and it saved the day!  It was just one of those days that seemed to drag on forever and no one was having much fun.  Pierce is getting his top teeth, and is still recovering from a cold and ear infection, so he was a crabby mess, and Hayden is also mending from an illness, so he was equally disagreeable.  Meanwhile, I was having a very busy work day and wasn't devoting to them the attention they deserved.  Did I mention also that it rained ALL DAY?!  By the time 5 o'clock rolled around and Nathan got home, I was more than ready to run out for a bit, and playdough ingredients were the perfect excuse!

After dinner we broke out the recipe and Hayden got to choose two colors to make - and he chose yellow and blue.  Our little helper measured out, poured, and mixed up the ingredients, then watched as we heated them over the stove.  Finally, we put the mixtures into plastic bags to knead until they were smooth, and eventually we broke up the batches and added more food coloring to create orange, green, and purple.  FUN!  Hayden just had a ball and played with this play dough for over an hour, and we saw more smiles in that hour than we had all day, so it was very rewarding.  A perfect end to a somewhat challenging day.  Thank you for the recipe Andrea!!

Little PJ is quite the crawling machine now WOW!  I am dying to take a video, but unfortunately our camera was stolen out of our truck on Monday night!  I was shocked because I've always thought of our neighborhood as safe....but I guess I was being niave.  Anyway, he has taken off and it's quite interesting to see the pickles he's managed to get himself into.  He crawls under chairs and can't get out, beelines for outlets and cords, and has already managed to put everything he shouldn't into his mouth (today I found an old leaf).  He's certainly keeping me on my toes!  In an attempt to relieve everyone's boredom today, I agreed to an impromtu afternoon bathtime party.  I began to draw the bath while Pierce was still out in the living room playing with toys.  After about 2 minutes I came back out to get him, and lo and behold the lil stinker was well on his way to the sound of the running water, and was halfway to me in the foyer!  It was so so so cute.  He wasn't about to miss bathtime!  Here are some photos of his crawling over to the train table and pulling himself up to play.

Well needless to say we are all more than ready to head to the mountains on Saturday!  I can't wait to leave work behind for a whole week, and to see the joy in Hayden's eyes as he sees snow and puts skis on for the first time, and to watch Pierce explore his new condo and get into trouble LOL.  We are going to see some good friends and family while up there, and just get to spend time together without any of the stresses of regular life.  COUNTING THE MINUTES!!

Hey all! We continue to operate under sick house mode. After giving PJ breathing treatments around the clock for 24 hours, he woke up yesterday seemingly much improved to me. He was alert, with great color, and lots of laughs and smiles. Therefore, I was really expecting a great outcome at his re-check yesterday afternoon at the doctor's office. Well....she immediately agreed that he looked ten times better than two days ago, but unfortunately his lungs still sounded "crackly and wheezy". Her recommendation was to continue the frequent breathing treatments, and to bring him back him before we leave our trip. Apparently if the wheezing hasn't resolved itself by then it might not be a good idea to take him on a plane. But she did feel that the natural progression of this illness would place the peak of symptoms the past two days, and things should be improving a lot before Saturday. I sure hope so!

Unfortunately Hayden seems to be a few days behind Pierce and he is definitely at the peak of his symptoms right now. Poor little dude. Last night he kept waking up from coughing and he'd just lay in his bed crying and calling for me. Finally at midnight I set up the air mattress in his room and just laid there with him to comfort him when I needed to. That cough was really intense! So we are taking him back to the doctor this morning I want to make sure that there is no ear infection starting, and that his lungs are still clear. I am sooooo ready for this illness to leave our house! Here are some photos of my guys doing their breathing treatments.

And here is a funny one of H eating his breakfast under his art table

Pierce, despite being sick, continues to excel at crawling and I'm totally in a whole new world suddenly!  Last night he crawled right over to the fireplace and starting playing with the doors of it, and then he got over to his dehumidifier and was pulling on the cord.  Oh lord....what are we in for LOL!  But I love his newfound independence and freedom.

And I do have a funny Hayden story from last night. After we put Hayden to bed, I heard some rummaging around in his room but I figured he was getting books or toys to bring into bed with him. I said to Nate, "I wonder what he's doing in there" but we both kind of shrugged it off. Well a few minutes later Nate went to check on him and I heard him saying "oh no buddy, oh the fish can't eat that much food, oh no", so I went in there and Hayden had gotten his stool from the bathroom and pulled it up to the dresser, had opened the top of the tank, and had proceeded to feed like half the container of fish food to the fish. Oh my gosh - SO FUNNY!!! Nate I were struggling not to burst out laughing.  There was fish food EVERWHERE! It was like a fishy buffet gone wrong LOL. They were in a frenzy and there is Hayden just calmly feeding them on his step stool, so proud of himself. Well we had to suction out all the food and refill the tank and it was just a major ordeal, but man was it FUNNY. Poor kiddo just trying to help.  Needless to say, the fish food will now be stored in a very high place!  But we both agreed that it is cute to see him try to take care of his little animals. 

Well sickness has firmly come to our home.  I feel like we have been in and out of sickness ALL winter between the four of us and I'm good and ready for it to be over. 

Last night we decided that we would take Pierce to the doctor first thing because his cough was sounding wheezy.  Then during the night Hayden got up several times and needed some rocking and cuddling, and he felt very feverish and his cough and runny nose had ramped up.  So we got the joy of a joint doctor's appointment this morning, and thankfully my mom was free to come along with me, because it ended up being quite a long one.  Hayden was checked out first (he insisted - he knows exactly what to do with all the equipment and tells the nurse so!), and she deemed it just a cold with no cause for major concern.  Unfortunately Pierce was a whole different story.  She said his chest sounded "wheezy and crackly and gurgly" - none of which is good!  She diagnosed him with bronchiolitis.  What is that you ask?  Well....

"Bronchitis is inflammation of the large airways in the chest and pneumonia is inflammation of the lung. Bronchiolitis is inflammation of the smaller airways connecting the two.  Bronchiolitis is usually a viral infection. RSV is responsible for the illness in most children."

So....my little man mostly likely has RSV (although he wasn't tested b/c the nurse said the treatment plan was the same no matter what the underlying virus was), which has turned into bronchiolitis and potentially pneumonia.  So we had to hang out at the doctor's office for two hours today while he got breathing treatments and his oxygen levels were then checked.  This poor little guy does NOT like breathing treatments, however we are giving them to him every 2 to 4 hours for the next two days at least. 

The worst part is that he has also been dealing with a double ear infection!!  This poor child.  So he is on antibiotics for that, which will also hopefully fend off the pneumonia if it develops.

This is such a nasty virus!  All of my friends kids are down and out too with varying degrees of severity.  I am VERY much hoping that everyone gets well soon, and that my boys are healthy when we board our plane on Saturday.