The Last Day of 2008

Well, today is officially the last day of 2008. It's bittersweet for me. It has been an exceptionally tough year for me, personally. As excited as I was to start this year pregnant, knowing I would be welcoming a new member to our family, my life was changed dramatically. I learned a lot about myself this year.

Grayson's birth really helped to open my eyes about who I was, what my purpose was and most of all, how to love life, no matter what curveballs are thrown your way. Never in a million years would I have told you that one of my children would have to go through a big HUGE ordeal like Grayson did. I knew from day 2 that I had to be strong for him since he didn't know what he was going to deal with in the upcoming weeks of his life. I tried to be tough mommy, super mommy, and love him as much as I could just in case our time together was cut short. I dreaded surgery day. I was a complete mess on the inside, but I held it together for the sake of my children and my husband. I didn't want them to see or smell my fear. I was terrified! What if God needed a new angel and was going to call Grayson up to heaven that day? You never know what might happen. When the doctor told us we could go back and see him, I was relieved beyond anything imaginable. There was my sweet baby boy, laying on the recovery table. So tiny, so fragile, and in so much pain it was unbearable. He looked at me with frightful eyes as if he were asking me to take his pain away....but there was nothing I could do for him. I could see the hurt an confusion in his eyes and as his mother, I could not take it away. All I could do was sing to him. I sang the first song that came to mind...."You are my sunshine...my only sunshine...you make me happy....when skies are grey....you'll never know dear, how much I love you....please don't take my sunshine away" I still tear up when I hear the song and when I write about this day. I sang that song over and over to him that weekend as we spent it together in his hospital room during recovery. I was glad God didn't take my sunshine away.

We've come a long way since that day almost 5 months ago. You can't even tell he's had surgery. You would never know what we've been through together.

During the next few months following his surgery, we have all shared many many illnesses. Kaylee, Brayden, Grayson and I have all had cough, sinus infections, strep, ear infections, bronchitis, etc.... We have bought so much lysol, we should own stock in the company. My medical copays are through the roof to the point where it will probably take our entire tax refund to pay it off. But, I have learned to deal with it and RELAX! Yes, Tiffany.....the queen of the Type A personality that stresses about everything has learned how to RELAX! I don't stress about us being sick. I just cancel plans and go about my day nursing the children back to health. It's part of being a mommy, afterall.

I've learned to love people who I would normally have a hard time loving. You know the types...the ones who make it almost impossible to love them and even more impossible is making them love you back...yep, I love them....and they love me back!

I've learned to take each day as it comes and not sweat the small stuff. If my house isn't completely "guest ready" at all times....IT'S OK!!! People are more understanding than I used to give credit for. Afterall, as I am reminded many, many times by many, many people....I have my hands full....you know, because I have 3 kids!!! hehehe. The dust gets thick enough that you can write your name in it and I don't care. (Ok, maybe deep down I care, but I don't have time to deal with it)

Needless to say, I have changed a lot this year! I think I am a better person. I think I am easier to love. I think I am more willing to show love. I think I am beautiful for what I have on the inside which reflects on the outside.

I am welcoming 2009 with a new attitude! I embrace whatever challenges are thrown my way. I hope it's an easier year for me than 2008 was. I hope I can learn just as much about myself in the upcoming 12 months as I have learned in the past 12.

I love everyone! I love you all!
Smile and remember to enjoy your sunshine!

Merry Christmas!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM US TO YOU!!!!!!

The kids went to go see Santa and they all did wonderful! Brayden was excited about his "hurricane" (Candy Cane) that Santa gave him. Grayson pulled his beard! (It was real too, so Santa let out a howl) Kaylee was excited as usual and talked Santa's poor ear off. She wanted to make sure she was on the "Nice" list and not the "Naughty" list.

This is our annual picture in front of the tree that we take every year at our family Christmas get-together with Chris' side.

Grayson practiced sitting up and showed off his new moves to Grams and Grandpa. They hadn't seen him in a while so he had lots of new things to show them.

No, he's not smoking a bong........ this was him doing his breathing treatment. He came down with an upper respiratory infection on Christmas day and after spending the next morning in the ER, he had a weeks worth of breathing treatments to do at home. He liked chewing on the nebulizer end for the first day, but then he started pitching a fit and fighting every time. He looked so cute doing his treatments, I couldn't resist having Chris snap a picture.

We hope your Christmas was as good as ours was. We enjoyed spending time with all of our family, most of all. The kids scored some nice loot also. Santa brought them new scooters and Grams and Grandpa brought them new bikes! They also got tons of other stuff and lots of gift cards to use. They are looking forward to picking out new stuff in the next few weeks.

Have a Safe and Happy New Year!

My 6 Month Old Beautiful Baby Boy

Grayson had his 6 month checkup on Thursday. He weighed 17 lbs 7 ounces and was 27.5 inches long. That's an increase of 2 pounds and 9 ounces in just 2 months. He grew 2.5 inches in 2 months. He is in the 80th % for height, and just above 50% for weight. His head is still off the charts though. It's 18.5" which is greater than 95%. His hat size is 12-18 months, so he can't wear any of his 0-6 or 6-12 month hats. He is right on track in clothes though and is currently growing out of 3-6 month clothes and moving up to 6-9 month clothing.

He is sitting up all by himself and can pull his legs underneath him, and get up on all fours. He is starting to rock back and forth on his knees, so it won't be long before he starts to crawl. Probably by the end of this year, or at the latest, the first week of January. He can actually get around on the floor by getting up on all fours and lunging forward. He can spin on his tummy too, so getting from point A to point B doesn't take him long, as long as it's not a far distance. He is grabbing toys and switching them from hand to hand. He can even put big objects directly in his mouth. He prefers the taste of bright balls and large stuffed animals, apparently.

He LOVES to eat! He can take down 2-3 jars of food in less than 5 minutes, followed by a full nursing session. He still nurses the same amount of times during the day too, so it hasn't cut out any feedings. It's a good thing I make his food or our grocery bill would be HIGH! He has tried many different foods, but he prefers sweet potatoes, bananas, and anything with chicken in it.

He is STILL teething, and drooling like crazy, but no teeth have popped out yet. (Which I am grateful for, since he nurses) You can see white under his gums, but nothing yet. We are expecting them to come through any day now, although we've been saying that for 2 months now.

Oh, and did I mention that he FINALLY sleeps through the night? YAY! He goes to sleep (IN HIS OWN BED, IN HIS OWN ROOM) at 8PM and sleeps until about 6am now. He will nurse quickly and then go back to sleep until around 8 or 9, depending on how loud his brother and sister are and/or if I have to wake him up to go take them to school. I miss having him in our bed, but I have to admit, I am enjoying the full night of un-interrupted sleep. I try to lay with him during the day for his naps to get my snuggle time in since he is becoming more active during the day.

UPDATED: 12/26/2008 - Chris took Grayson to the Dr this morning because he started wheezing last night and developed a rattling cough over Christmas holidays. He weighed 18 lbs 4oz and it has only been 8 days since his last weight check!!! So, they did a breathing treatment on him and sent him home with more antibiotics and nebulizer treatments for the next week. I was surprised at how much weight he had gained in such a short amount of time! 13 oz in 8 days...that's like almost 2 ounces per day!

Friday Follies ~ Christmas Edition

Kaylee's Lyrics to "Deck the Halls" go like this:
Tex the halls with thousand jollies
Fa la la la la la la la la
Tis the season to be jollies.....


Brayden's Lyrics to "Feliz Navidad" go like this:
Puh Leeze Mommy Dog
Please Mommy Dog.......


Brayden and Kaylee hung some candy canes on the Christmas tree.
Later that evening, Brayden told Daddy "We hung hurricanes on the tree"

"Booger" vs. "Bugar"

How do you think it is spelled? I always thought it was spelled "Booger" until recently, I had 2 very dear people write me about various things and include the word spelled "bugar" (one was a teacher too, hehe). I started to doubt myself and my spelling abilities. For those who don't know, I am a spelling Bee NERD! I can usually look at a word and tell if it's spelled correctly. I know, some of you are wondering what the hell happens to my emails and such....I don't use spell check and I type faster than my brain can think sometimes. Anyways, doubting made me look it up on google to see how it is spelled.

According to Google and Wikipedia, the definition is:
Booger or Boogers may refer to:
Dried nasal mucus (colloquial)
Booger, a flavor of Jelly Belly jelly bean of the BeanBoozled series
Boogers, a brand of malted milk balls covered in chocolate sold throughout North America

Is it just me, or is the sound of a booger flavored Jelly Bean really really gross? I thought we weren't supposed to eat boogers!!!


Another ironic point I found was that the first thing to pop up when you google "Bugar" is this from the urban dictionary:

bugar sugar
Slang term for cocaine.
Are you gonna snort any bugar sugar?

WHAT??? So, keep in mind next time you need to type something regarding boogers (as we all do so often) to spell it correctly or people might think you are referring to cocaine!

Sorry, this was too funny not to share.