Baby, It's cold INSIDE

Welcome to home ownership. I guess I can't say we haven't already been introduced since a couple of months after we moved in last year we had a water line break. I woke up one morning and thought, "Wow the floors are cold." I looked at the thermostat and it said 53 degrees. CRAP. So the man called our buddy Dave who came over as soon as he could that day to work on our furnace.
He figured out what the problem was pretty fast. We needed a new motor and he ordered one for us and fixed what we had the best he could so we'd be warm enough through the night. That evening we saw that it wasn't going to last us very long at all. We got a space heater in our room and laid Bruiser on the floor in a fleece blanket pallet and we put Monk between us. All our bags were ready so in the morning all we had to do was get dressed and head out.
It was really rough night's sleep with the boys. Oy.
We woke up to 42 degrees outside our bedroom. Packed up. Took the boys to breakfast at McDonald's and spent the night with my parents. In their warm warm house. Our part didn't come until late and Dave couldn't get over to fix it right away so we had to spend another night with my folks. Sunday Dave could fix it but something else was wrong and he thought it was the circuit board. So another night in Findlay.
The next day it still wasn't working so Dave suggested another guy who came and figured out that one of the brand new parts we were sold was bad.
Yeah. That meant we had to pay a guy after hours money because we were sold a bad new part. The company is refunding our money and is going to see if they can foot some of the bill for us. I hope so because I'll be very angry and possibly start naming names.
Gratefully, we are back in our warm warm home for Christmas! We are so grateful for family who can help take care of us when we're out.
Thanks everyone!

CatScans, Birthdays and Parties!

Well we have definitely been a very busy little family. I start out by saying this so I have an excuse for not updating in so long.



First, Bruiser had his first ER appointment. He fell inTO our bathtub and hit his head and his eye a day before his birthday. Normally that's not a big deal, but since he's a bruiser we had to rush off to the hospital and get a catscan to make sure there was no internal bleeding. I called the Hemophilia Center on our to let them know what was going on. The nurse told me that the ER people would resist a catscan but that I had to be very aggressive. She also called the ER ahead of time and gave them instructions. They're so wonderful! I brought our factor with us because normally we would inject him first thing. It turned out that getting a catscan was faster than putting a team together to give Bruiser his IV then his factor. When we got into the catscan room they wrapped by little baby up like a tiny blue burrito and Daddy got to help hold him. He only moved during two of the pictures so it was all over in just a couple minutes. Catscans are cool by the way. I got to see his brain and eye balls and grey matter and all kinds of awesomeness. Oh, and Bruiser was, fine and dandy. The ER doc came to see us and I got a very distinct impression that he had googled Hemophilia right before he came in. Or WebMD. I wanted to ask him which one. He was doing well until, "At least he doesn't have Hemophilia A, that's Christmas Disease. That's way worse." And I thought, "WHAT!?" He also really did not want to give Bruiser his factor but since he had no bleeding I was fine with that. Until a lot later when I remembered he said to look out for 'delayed bleeding'. If he knew that was a possibility why didn't he give my child factor? I'm grateful that the experiences I'm having now I can learn from when they haven't been serious. Anyway, Bruiser looked like a tough guy his first birthday.


AND my sweet little boy on his 1st birthday! You are almost walking! You rip through my house in your walker and can stand up by yourself for 4 or 5 seconds at a time (which is excellent). You are still a great eater. You really really like to get into stuff and play. You have two new words which are 'kitty' and 'uh oh'. Eleven pounds ago you were my newborn angel and now you're such a big man. Sometimes you just love to be held so you can watch what's going on in the world around you. We love you so much.





I had a birthday too, although mine aren't really important anymore. We went to Bob Evans and the mall so Monk could ride on the train. He had so much fun. I love watching him get so excited.




Finally, the husband and I went to his company party. It was a nice excuse to get all dressed up. They paid for a hotel so our boys went to my parents' house for the night which was so wonderful! We had a great time.

Parenthood is defined as...

Loving someone so fiercely who sometimes (often) makes your life HARD. Parenting is not easy. And I don't care if someone takes offense to my little definition up there. You're lying to yourself if having a child doesn't make your life harder. Sweeter, yes. Harder, most definitely. It's so amazing that I love my little boys fiercely, desperately and so fully even though there are days like today where even my body hurts.

First, they woke up too early this morning and Monk was cranky from the get go. He begged me over and over for a movie. So I let him watch one then I put the two of them in the bath since I knew I wanted to get their pictures taken. Washing his hair is awful! He screams and cries so loudly! I didn't even get soap in his eyes. That took a while and finally I had enough of his whining. Although I did teach him the difference between his "monk voice" and his "whining voice". We also practiced some animal voices.

I laid Bruiser down who went right to sleep but Monk was NOT having it. I laid down with him for a few minutes because I was tired and I think the rest of the day would have been easier if I had stayed long enough for him to fall asleep. I just don't like to do that because it's a terrible habit to get into.

He's going through a rough phase where he doesn't want to listen. He just wants to go off and do what (or have Mommy do) whatever he wants. He's also outgrowing naps but still needs them. AUGH.


A bit later we went to get our pictures taken at Sears. I brought my dad and my favorite CJ along thinking that it would be fun and easy. It was not either of those things. Monk threw a fit the entire time beforehand and was in one of those contrary moods. "Oh Monk, you're so handsome." "I NOT SO HANDSOME!" He yelled about everything. The picture ladies worked miracles because she had him laughing so loud and giggling in no time and I did get ONE, maybe two good shots out of the whole thing. After that he was back to being yelling. The three of us adults were exhausted by the time we were finally finished. CJ is second guessing having children I think...

So a million fits later, I pick up my husband who was out running errands and hanging out with his best friend. Maybe I cried a little because the day was just so HARD HARD HARD HARD HARD. But he gave me my birthday present nearly 3 weeks early and they are the most comfortable and soft pair of silk jammies from Victorias Secret ever! I don't even care that he spent an ungodly amount on them. Then he bought me ice cream. The boys fell asleep in their car seats and we were home where I could take a long hot shower to work the knots in my shoulders out from the stress, shave my legs so I didn't mar my new jammies with bristly legs and be luxuriously comfortable. Sigh.

And even though today kind of sucked and was HARD HARD HARD, I keep thinking about how when I laid down with Monk he said, "I like you Momma. I like you beautiful eyes." And it's no wonder I'm not mad at him and that I love him as much as I do. Maybe tomorrow will be wonderful :)

11 months!

And I'm only 1 day late of getting this up! Our little Bruiser is 11 months old. He just seems so tiny. He's so my baby and I have a hard time imagining him getting bigger. He got his top two teeth in this month. He can do so much.

Right now Bruiser can hold on to the edge of something and walk. I don't see him do it very often, but don't be fooled. Once I walked in on him and he's FAST. Blew me away for a second because I had never seen him do it before. He can also clap and play peek-a-boo which is probably the cutest thing I've ever seen. Bruiser is also a master of sound effects. I can't even begin to describe, or mimic, the sounds he makes with his mouth. It's so funny. I'll take a video and post.

Bruiser loves his baths but has taken to standing up in them which is a big danger even though I'm sitting right next to him. He's taken a few spills and gets really angry. A funny thing about my little man is that he gets MAD. Full on fists clenched- face red- vein bursting mad and a grunt that goes back to cave man days. Can you believe this coming from my peaceful sweet boy?

He also really loves his toys more and more and can easily keep himself entertained for hours. Sometimes I just take them both upstairs and read my book while they play. His favorite though is the mouse and keyboard that's hooked up to our TV. I have to hide them now or he changes our movies. Silly man.

By the way, he can climb stairs. Scary for a bruiser baby's mom, right? He also has the greatest big brother in the world. When Bruiser starts up the stairs and I don't see, Monk calls for me and sits right in front of him so he can't go up farther. I never taught him to do that! Monk also makes sure to always shut the toilet lid so Bruiser doesn't try to touch the toilet. What amazing little boys I have.

I'm always stopped by people who want to tell me how beautiful my little guy is and "Oh what eyelashes!" "Look at those eyes!" and all the adults who watch him say he is the cuddliest baby they've ever seen. And he is so completely precious.

It's an Honor!

My Monkey Monk has turned 3. As in THREE. THREE YEARS OLD! He's gone through so many changed this year. He talks a lot and is so smart. We can have long conversations about anything. He really observant and remembers things from months and months ago. Most of it I was already starting to forget.

Monk is so sweet and so affectionate. He likes to cuddle and give hugs and kisses and he always wants to hold hands. I always feel so loved. He really loves movies and would probably watch TV all day if I let him. Which I don't, so we end up in his room a lot. He's really good at playing with his little brother. He looks out for him and lets me know when Bruiser is getting near the stairs. (Guess what, Bruiser can climb stairs!)

He likes to get his hair cut and do all the things Mommy and Daddy do. He loves playing with other kids, of course boys. He just jumps right in without any thought at all and before you blink they're all running around chasing each other.

I just love him so much. He's this light that makes every day better. I never know what he's going to say because he's a little parrot and only has to hear you say something once before he says it himself. And he's observant so what he says is a mix of me and a mix of him.

Dear Monkey. My life is so much better with you here. I am so honored that I get to be your Mommy. We adore every thing about you from your crooked little toenails to your crazy professor head of hair. We love you more than anyone was able to tell us we could. And I have never been more grateful that families are forever. Love you babyboy.

Poopy Monologue

‎"I poop! I poop mama! I made a snake! I made it wike a snake for you! I don't want to eat my poop. Yuck. Oh, I not all done. I haf to poop again. I poopin. Poop Poop Poop. Faster faster faster. This seat is bouncy. It's soft. Good idea. Now I make a pretzel for you. It's a poop pretzel. It's not pretend. A poopy pretzel."

I feel this way:

The recent suicides and abuse of homosexuals has really been laying down heavy on my mind lately. I feel for those people and their families. It is never ok to be unkind. I am grateful to my church that above all else, teaches to love one another.

BIG NEWS

And no, I'm not pregnant. However, I'm really excited for May 2011 because I will have two new nieces/nephews! Babies are so wonderful!

Our big exciting news is..... Monk is potty trained! 100%! We've been working on it for a while, but he wasn't really interested. It was more, "If I think about it and am not doing anything better, maybe I'll do it for a special treat." But now he's looking super cute in his Batman underwear. He doesn't even wet during his naps (when I get him to lie down) or during bed time. I'm so proud. Of course, when in public he demands his "pwivacy" and won't let me in the stall with him. I try to watch through the crack to make sure he's not touching the toilet bowl or anything. EW.



Bruiser is 10 months now and I didn't get around to posting for 9 months so let's see.... At 9 months he was ever so peaceful and crawling like a breakdancing champion. He was very very fast. He was also a bottomless pit. I'm talking waffles for breakfast and a whole PB&J for lunch. Hungry little hippo.



At 10 months our little Bruiser is crawling normally, not eating so much (and by not so much, I mean he only eats a little more than Monk does.) He pulls himself up on EVERYTHING. Mostly me and the furniture, but also the walls. He's teething something fierce so I find big puddles of drool all over the floor but it just make me laugh. He is so peaceful and such a joy. He finds more things funny now and laughs a lot at Monk.



More on my Monkey Monk: He is SMART. And INDEPENDENT. He likes superheroes, trains, dragons and Scooby Doo. He loves to eat corn dogs and fruit. And he is unendingly sweet. He's very obedient and affectionate and pretty much perfect.



My boys are so wonderful! I'm looking forward to the end of this year because we have lots of Halloween activities and Monk's birthday and holidays and Bruiser turns 1! I love watching my boys grow up.

BaBy MoUtH

My sister-in-laws are both expecting in May! I'm so excited! It's so wonderful and special to be around a baby. And I like that I don't have to be pregnant and still get to cuddle and buy cute baby clothes!

So I was trying to explain to Monk that his Aunties are having a baby. I told him that their tummies will get big so the baby can grow. Of course he connected tummy to mouth. This morning we had this conversation:

Monk- You big Momma. And I'm little.
Me- You are little. But you're getting bigger and bigger.
Monk- Can I go in your tummy for just a little while.
Me- Ha, I don't think you can fit anymore baby. But you'll keep growing.
Monk- I just go through your mouth. See?

Then he tried to put his head in my mouth. What a sweet funny boy. I'm not telling him where babies come from yet though. We can have that conversation in a few years.

A Day in the Life of a Stay at Home Mom

BEFORE NOON ANYWAY

Bruiser's up! Time to roll myself out of bed no matter how many times I woke up the night before. And when I get there, he's standing up in his crib for the first time! It makes me smile because he's growing so much. "Mommy!" And then there's Monk who always sounds so happy to see me in the morning. "I want strawberry milk."

Potty then Breakfast time. I don't remember the last time I used words like 'restroom' or 'bathroom'. But Monk goes without me telling him to which is a big triumph. I make breakfast, clean them up and eat their leftovers.

Monk likes to watch movies about now so I turn on Netflix since I can't stand cable. He still wants to watch Spongebob but I refuse. He's a parrot nowadays and I don't want him to mimic anything on that show. We choose Wonderpets instead.

I lug Bruiser around as I unload the dishwasher and make the bed, pulling off the pillowcases since I need to do a load of whites. I have to make a run to all the rooms of the house to get the vigilante dirty clothes and dishes that forgot to put themselves in the right place. Just as I've sprayed the last of the Shout on Bruiser's crib sheet Monk runs in and starts to climb the dryer. "I'm all done now, you need to get off." "NO!" A few 'nos' later and he's off to time for not listening and yelling at me.

Time for Bruiser's medicine that he doesn't like and ends up spitting all over me. And then: "AUGH! My nose! Owie!" What on earth is stuck up there? He's really upset. He hasn't done this in a long time. Since I had to call my husband home to help me. So I lay Monk on the bed and turn on the light and dig out my tweezers. Tweezers won't get it so I pinch one nostril and cover his mouth and tell him to blow. Mystery object shoots right on out. I'm still not sure what it is but I drop in the toilet and wash my hands for the third time this morning. We've only been up for a little over an hour.

He wants to watch more TV. I feel bad since every article I read says he shouldn't watch more than a couple hours tops a day. He'll want a movie after his nap. If he takes one. Are those picture hung crookedly? Geeez. I guess it doesn't matter because he keeps messing with the volume button connected to our speakers. A few no's later and he's back in time out. No more movies! Bruiser wants his jumper so I get a few minutes of quiet. If quiet includes 10 requests for a snack and movie...

Time for Bruiser's nap. He's been a happy little guy this morning. When he lays down I can get ready myself. It's hard to put on makeup and do my hair with two little guys pawing at me. So just Monk is awake. Except I don't know what's into him today. he might need a nap too because he's being really disobedient.

I notice the window is open and I wonder if our neighbors ever hear me yell at Monk. It doesn't happen often since he's usually such a good and easy little man. But that would be pretty red-neck of us and Monk usually runs around naked. If I put a pull up or underwear on him he'll pee or poop in it. If he wears nothing he always goes potty but usually gets the bottom of his shirt wet when he pees, so NAKED it is.

In between cleaning up after him and his break down it takes me a full 45 minutes to do my hair (kind of) and put on makeup. At least I don't look like I've rolled out of bed. I promised my husband I'd never be one of those wives that goes to the store in their pajama pants.

I make Monk a PB&J on a hamburger bun and this makes him happy. So I let him watch more Wonderpets. Bless the Wonderpets a this point. And if he watches a little extra TV today it's for my own good.

And it's 11am. So I'll see if Monk will take a nap too. This has been a harder morning but when Monk finally settles down he wants to hold hands and I see that they are so beautiful and so funny so individual.

And Monk, of course does not want to take a nap but he'll play quietly in his room for a little while which gives me the chance to read a little and wait for Bruise to wake up. And his little smile when he sees me is priceless.

Happy Anniversary!

I can't believe we've been married for 5 whole years! That's longer than most celebrities. Combined, haha. Today we celebrated by going to Cedar Point which was so fun! It's nice to go out and do stuff together because it reminds me how much I love being with him. Which is why we got married in the first place! I have a funny and awesome best friend that I get to live with and have fun with every day!

Cedar Point was fun. We LOVED the Millenium Force and the new Dragster one. We rode that one twice. We picked a good day for it too because there were hardly any lines at all. So we got through all the rides we wanted to and didn't stay longer than 3pm. We had a good time people watching and trying to figure out why on earth people wore what they did. Why the dresses ladies? You're at an AMUSEMENT PARK. Then there were the strange and uncomfortable... One kid was actually in slippers. But the heavy wool ones made for winter.

We went out for sushi afterwards because that's one of our favorite food. It was DELICIOUS. Then we decided to try something new. So I ordered the Salmon Caviar sushi and he ordered the Sea Urchin sushi. OH NEVER AGAIN! I couldn't get the Sea Urchin off my tongue fast enough. It was beautiful presented in a cucumber flower, but it was grayish, poopish looking, COLD and slimy. Oh it was so nasty. My man started dipping his chopsticks in his soy sauce to drink as much as he could and I shoved a wad of ginger in my mouth to try and get the memory of the experience out of my mouth. The caviar was waaay better and totally disgusting. And I kept having nemo flashbacks.

So it was an adventure. We spent too much money on it, but it was funny and we had a good laugh. We went to my parents' house to pick up our boys and I tried on my wedding dress again. Monk said my dress was 'sooo bootiful'. It fit and that was nice.

It's been an incredible five years and I had no idea that such a short space of time could be so amazing. We went from a crappy teeeeeeeny one bedroom apartment with the bathroom down the hall of the apartment building to a beautiful home, nice car and most importantly, our two most incredible little boys who we love so much. Our lives are truly blessed and we are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for giving us so much happiness!

EI8HT

I'm so terrible sometimes at keeping up with my blog. It's not that I don't ever have anything to say, but some things I just don't want to put on the world wide web. I still have the second half of our vacation to put up. I'll get those up soon. I spent most of the week getting pictures of Bruiser from birth til now and for our family yearbook ready for scrapbooking. Prints are only .10 cents at Walgreens this week so away I go!

Last reported, Bruiser wasn't doing much of anything except getting up on his toes. I knew that this month would be a big one. Where he was bald, he now has HAIR. And gets funny bedhead. Where he could not sit up, now he does for long periods of time playing with his toys. What was once a funny push-up, looks like he's breaking dancing the snake as he CRAWLS across the floor. And he's getting fast too. While he used to eat mush, he now has WAFFLES for breakfast with his two NEW TEETH. From sweet baby coos, we now have DADADADADAs, BABABABABABAs, and MAMAMAMAMAMAs. And that was just all in one week.

I can barely keep up with my sweet boy. It's funny to set him down in the living room then turn around while I do dishes because there's a tiny baby at my ankles. He's still ever so much a Momma's boy. My favorite part about all these changes is that it's easier for him and Monkey Monk to play together. Monk kind of runs all over the place and Bruiser break dances here and there and laughs and laughs and laughs and soon they are both laughing so hard and then we are all laughing so hard.

Oh how I love my darling little boys!

VACATION, How do I get away? PT 1

We've been back for about a week now so I figured I would FINALLY update our blog and get some pictures up from our vacation. Wow! It was crazy.

We left Friday morning to head out to VA Beach where our favorite friends are living right now. We were making awesome time in spite of all the terrible rain until we hit West Virginia. Traffic was stopped all the time. Turns out, it's because all those people don't know how to merge, so they stop and creep, stop and creep up. It wasn't even because there was an accident until some lady slammed in behind up. So yup, we got into a car accident which is my biggest fear with my sweet boys but everyone was ok. We had to go to the ER even though everyone seemed fine because you just can't take chances with a Bruiser Baby.

The ER was backed up but the good thing was that Bruiser has a special card that lets him hop the ER lines so we got in right away. It still took about 4 hours out of our trip and we ended up having to stay in a hotel that night from being sore and tired. We left early the next day and got to our awesome friends' place!

Then on to VA BEACH!



Monk has been talking about the beach since his Sheila Grandma went on vacation to FL so it was fun to take him. We had a good time throwing ourselves into the waves and playing in the sand, well, until it got too sandy... It was still stormy so after a couple of hours they closed the beach and we headed back to de-sand-ify ourselves. Rachel and I went to go see Eclipse.



I'm a big fan of the books but so far the movies have been really cheesy and poorly acted. Sorry Twi-hards. Eclipse is my favorite of the series but I didn't expect too much out of it. Turns out though I really loved it and was pleasantly surprised. When Rachel and I got back from our girl date the boys left to go see the Last Air Bender.



Which they said was the worst movie they have ever seen ever, period. And my husband who hates all things Twilight says he wished he had seen Eclipse instead. Huh, score one for the ladies.

The next day we took off around the afternoon and went to Washington D.C. D had never been there before and since I used to go all the time when I went to SVU I was excited to show him. We got an awesome room for under $100.



I almost didn't want to go out and see the sights, but we didn't drive all that way for nothing. We hopped on the Metro and ran to the Holocaust museum. We got there too late to see the regular exhibit and were pretty bummed about that. We'll get to it next time we go. I love that all the museums are free in DC! Then we just walked the National Mall and I showed D where you could see the White House from on top of the hill. We didn't want to walk there since it was sooooo hot. But trucked it up to the Washington monument and the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. His mom's godfather has his name on there so we looked it up. By then we were sweaty starving and headed back to the hotel. We really loved learning about the history there and seeing the memorials. D and I are closet art fiends so we love to see anything made with some thought and genius. The boys were wonderful and we ate a lot of ice cream from vendors. I also wanted to buy some knock off sunglasses just to say that I did, but I got ice cream instead...






The most important thing was once we were in DC we were finally out of all the rain and traffic that had been non stop since we left. That was the biggest relief out of anything. Plus on our way out we saw signs for the LDS temple and wanted to stop since it's so beautiful and D had never seen it. It was wonderful, then off we went to Massachusetts!



Stay tuned for Part 2...

7 months is old

So far no teeth, crawling or sitting up. And that's the way I like it. Right now, even though he seems so long and so big, in my mind I can still make him a tiny baby. I think this next month is going to change all of that.

Our Bruiser is quite adept at getting around though, so don't let the fact he's not crawling fool you. He can turn full circles on his little tummy and roll over, which is how he gets to things. He also gets up on his hands and tip toes like he's about to do a very graceful push up. That's way different than Monkey. When Monk was learning about crawling, he looked like he was trying to swim. Bruiser looks like he's break dancing.

Bruiser's feet are finally wide enough to wear the cute little flip flops his auntie bought for him. And he's teething an awful lot. His gums are so bumpy. The last few days he has drank more bottle than normal. He usually eats a breakfast, lunch and dinner of oatmeal and some fruit/vegetable and a bottle for naptime. It has saved me a lot on formula. He's easy and happy and healthy and very SHY.

He's been such a Mommy's boy and I really love it. I worked all week for D so he had to go to a babysitter for the first time and by the second day he would cry and cry and cry until I held him. That was very sad for Daddy who was trying to take care of him while I went running. Oh, and Bruiser loves animals. He gets really excited to see cats or our chickens. His arms get straight and rigid and he shakes them like he's having a seizure! But a big grin the whole time. I cannot resist those perfect dimples.

Monk is still being an awesome big brother. His curls are getting out of control with the humidity. He's more defiant lately and I really have been tryin to watch how I speak to him since I know that makes a huge difference. He's learning all of our full and grown-up names in case he gets separated from us. He forgets my first name so when you ask him I'm Mommy Bwooks. He does something funny every day and oh how I love this sweet boy.

Indianapolis Children's Museum

OFFICIALLY- this is the coolest place I've ever been to. The husband's company treated us to the museum and I was so excited to take Monk bc of the dinosaur exhibit. Little did I know that I would get more excited than any of us! When you first drive up there's a ginormous dinosaur breaking out of the wall, then there are two looking into the museum! Monk wanted to ride on one, but they were too big.
There five stories of awesomeness, but we went to the dinosaurs first. I got so giddy! I was nearly in tears because I was so excited to see the fossils, AND I GOT TO TOUCH ONE! AWESOME! I was running around all crazy wearing Bruiser trying to look at everything and D was a little more calm taking Monk to each site, since it's supposedly a museum for children.

Then there was the rock and roll section which was pretty cool. I saw Elvis' actual tiger suit. I got a little misty thinking about how much I wanted to tell my Grandma since I knew she'd get a big kick out of it, so I just remembered her with a little extra reverence in my head and checked out Elvis' guitar and the KISS costumes.
Anyway, I was so excited I was an emotional crazy kid who drug my poor husband and children all over the place. Go there. Go there and check out the 4 stories of awesomeness.

PS My camera battery died so I have a serious lack of pictures.

Lime Ricki Cute Giveaway

My friend Ki has awesome giveaways so I'm after a super cute bathing suit:

http://limerickimodestswimwearblog.blogspot.com/
www.cherryblossomsdesign.blogspot.com

DON'T enter so I have a better chance at winning :)

My friends need help!

I went to school with this girl waaaay back when she was just meeting her now husband. That was quite a few children ago. Please see if you can help her family bring their girls home!

http://fromthetrenchesofadoption.blogspot.com

6 Months

So I'm terrible at getting these up on time, but better late than never right? So our little Bruiser has turned six months old and those four weeks from 5 to 6 months have made a HUGE difference.

For one thing, he's weighing in at 15lbs and 25inches. That means he has doubled his birth weight and grown 5 incredible inches.

He laughs at more than just being tickled which is really sweet. He likes to hang on like a monkey and watch everything that is going on. Most mornings you'll find him in his bumbo seat watching me put on make up or washing dishes. Whenever my hands aren't free and I can't "wear" him, he's in that little seat watching watching. Like this picture when I was setting up Monk's slip and slide.

He's also rolling over all over the place. He could do it last month, but decided he didn't really like it all that much. Now he's everywhere. He especially loves to play with his toys so rolling around come sin handy with him. It's very sweet to hear him playing in his crib at night and in the mornings. It's even sweeter when I don't have to wake up because he's up.

His bottom teeth will be coming in at anytime. So I think. I wish I could freeze frame my boys at this point in time. They are so precious to me, as I say every time. And he's a picture of Monk because I don't want to leave him out.

Give Away

Love this girl and Love her blog. AND I really love this giveaway because I LOVE that dress!

www.cherryblossomdesign.blogspot.com

Introducing our New Addition to the Family

Our 18.5 lb and 44.86 inch bundle of joy! Living room, three bedrooms, office, stairs and hallway are all grateful and have never felt better. Or looked better. My old piece of junk will live out its useless retirement years in the husband's Jones office where it will never need worry about fruit loops, crackers and mystery substances ever again.

A couple more reasons why I love this man...

I like the way he talks. He's so funny. He was standing in a back alley waiting on a friend he was helping move when a group of guys approached him and it looked like it could turn into a scary situation.

1. "Hey, you got any money?"
2. "Nope, sorry."
1. "What, you got a problem with Mexicans?"
2. "Dude, look at my skin. I'm portugese. You can't EVEN play the race card with me."
1. "Haha, ok man, ok. You want us to help you move? Mexicans are good a moving. We'll do it cheap."

He just says things that crack me up, because I probably wouldn't have been thinking along those lines. Then a couple days ago he told me that every time he sees vultures he thinks they should have Italian names like Tony and Guido. If this is what my husband is like now, imagine my children. GEEZ. I will ALWAYS be entertained.

It's not MY fault!

Yesterday we drove down to Bruiser's special Hemo doc for the second time. We met a special dentist, physical therapist, social worker, geneticist and of course the normal two nurses and doctors. I like that along with Dr. Kerlin, we also have a specific nurse we work with each time, Charmaine. She is really sweet. We also met the other nurse, Claudia, for the times that Charmaine is on vacation.

Bruiser is up to almost 15lbs and 25". What a big man! He's in perfect condition and we got his blood drawn again bc often times infants' percentage levels go up a little bit. The husband said he did pretty well with getting his blood drawn and his immunizations. Monk mysteriously needed taken out of the room each time Bruiser was poked. Mysteriously...

ALTHOUGH, I would have had to have Monk removed anyway, as he got super protective. He heard when Bruiser started crying for the bloodwork and got really upset. "Coley's cryin!! Coley's crying!! I go to Coley!" He didn't calm down until Bruiser came back out happy as can be. When Dr. Kerlin came in for the examination Monk goes, "Don't TOUCH him!" Maybe he was thinking about the last time he had to go to the dr for glass in his foot. I'm glad he's looking out for his baby brother anyway. He felt better because Dr. Kerlin held and cuddled Bruiser saying they were friends, then pulled a silver dollar from Monk's ear. This man is an AWESOME. We're fortunate to have a great doctor.

Dr. Kerlin looked at Bruiser's shoulder and the new mark that's creeping up the back of his neck and has decided that they are NOT bruises or bleeds of any kind and are NOT hemophilia related. That means it's not my fault my sweet little baby is all marked up! What a relief! Now I don't feel bad every time I look at his back. He says he believes they are called Mongolian Spots, which is runs in 90% of Native AMericans but less than 10% of Caucasions, so he obviously gets it from Daddy's side. Ninety-five percent of Mongolian Spots go away by puberty. We just need to go to a dermatologist to confirm.

The hardest part about these visits is sitting in the waiting room. Not that it's a long wait, but because the Hematology ward shares with the Oncology ward. Dr. Kerlin does both. So I see these sweet little children who are going through chemo and I can't imagine watching my child suffer. One little girl got to ring the special Remission Bell since her cancer is in remission for now! Her family was taking pictures and the doctors gave her a gift and I got so teary eyed watching her. The moms in the waiting room all know each other and they asked the girl's mom what they would do now and the mom looked like a weight had just dropped off her shoulders. "Nothing for now! We'll test every now and then!" Then I saw a young couple carrying their tiny tiny little boy who had just received chemo and my heart broke all over again. I'm grateful it's just Hemophilia. My baby just bruises and I can deal with that.

My family is so blessed and I'm so grateful for my boys!

Just kidding folks!

I need to edit the post I made about 20 minutes ago. He's a roller! back to belly to back! Woohoo! (although I'm still hoping he'll be a very VERY late walker).

Yesterday was 5 Months

5 months old still seems pretty little right? I still see him as this tiny thing. I hope I'm not getting that "Mommy's little Baby" syndrome.

This month, my little Bruiser, you have fallen in love with your feet. In fact, you can fit almost the entire first half of your foot in your mouth. You are by far the most flexible baby I've ever seen. You can roll over from your belly to your back, but once on your back you just want to chew chew chew. You also like to kick really hard and I'm impressed with how strong you are.



You have the most beautiful soothing voice my little Bruiser. I might repeat myself every month, but you still don't like to talk unless you have something to say. Then you are very loud! I love listening to you squeal and coo. You have a huge beautiful smile.

You're teething still, right now. And if you catch hold of a finger with those tiny baby hands you put in your mouth before anyone can blink an eye. Your family is so in love with you.

Aw Geez...

So I'm doing a March of Dimes walk tomorrow and I'm really excited about it. However, I thought I'd try and raise $100 but have only raised $5. Embarrassing right? So if anyone is PLEASE PLEASE feeling generous, click on the huge pink March of Dimes icon on the left hand side and donate a couple bucks. THANK YOU!

Lament of a Bruiser's Mother

Beautiful isn't he? We were out and about all weekend long, which means my house didn't get dirty and I didn't have to clean it today. So I had some free time to play on picnik.com with this photo.

I'm so greatful that my little baby only has moderate Hemophilia B. It could be so much worse, like Hemophilia A or severe Hemophilia or most anything else. I have him and can hold his tininess in my arms and adore his little smiles and rolls. I get to be frustrated if he doesn't feel like going to bed at night (or early morning.)

But that doesn't mean I don't worry about him. He was born with a little hemangeoma on his leg. I probably spelled that all wrong, but it's just a small strawberry that should go away. A couple weeks later, I noticed at the doctor's office that he had a large bruise covering his entire shoulder and part of his tiny back. It hasn't gotten bigger and hasn't gone away, so the Hemo doc said it's probably a birthmark. Then yesterday, he was sitting on my lap and I saw a bruise on the nape of his neck that went up about two inches! To add insult to injury, my parents said they had noticed it two weeks ago. Where was I? Why didn't I see it as anything other than a shadow up until last night? I felt horrified!

Because of his type of Hemophilia, I really only need to worry about bleeds in the muscles and joints, not silly surface bruises which my father kindly reminded me so I didn't freak out too badly. (I can't believe I didn't notice!?) They went through this with my accident prone brother- sorry bro, but you know neither one of us could ever be mistaken as graceful. So my parents knew it was no big deal.

So where is the line? I want to not have a panic attack every time his beautiful baby skin gets discolored. I want to NOTICE is something is amiss so I can calmly and efficiently react. And I want to not worry about him playing with his big brother who seems to so far have inherited our "ungraceful genes". (He's a toddler. There's still hope for him.) Monk loves to play with him so much and I don't want to yell at him everytime he gets to close. Geez.... I could vent forever. I guess all I can do is my best. And accept that I'm just going to worry. Sometimes I'll over react and I'll make mistakes. Which stinks.

I really want to join a chat room or forum for moms with children who have Hemophilia, but I haven't really found one. Anybody know of one? Then maybe I can get my freak outs out one at a time instead of all at once.

First Cereal Box Toy!

Come on, you know that's exciting. Which one of us didn't try to get our mom to buy cereal based on the toy. I never look anymore, but imagine my surprise when my Monk one morning shouts, "Mom-Mom! A car! A car!" He was so excited. I mean, look at that little face.