T's 2nd eye surgery

Well my brave little guy did it again. Travis had another surgery on his eyes. Even though is frist surgery went well the results were not that great. We made the hard dession to do it again. This surgery the doctor worked on the inner eye muscles, last time he had loosed the outer eye muscles on both eyes. The surgery went well. He said Travis had some scar tissue on his left eye from last time, so he removed that and he is optimitic. I am so proud of Travis, he was so brave. We had explain that we would be doing the surgery one more time, so he knew it was comming, yet it was still very hard on me. Travis has had a little harder recovery this time around. He didn't want to open his eyes the rest of the night when we got home and even into the next morning because they hurt. I ended up calling the doctor and they said since it was the inner muscles it can hurt more. Travis finally started opening his eyes later that afternoon... after I pulled out a intented Christmas gift to perk his interest. I am happy to say by say two he is doing much better. I pray this will be the last surgery.

Cookie Fun!

Well I did manage to let the kids decorate cookies this year. I must admit I cheated and bought the pre-made dough already cut into shapes. I just had to bake them. I figured the decorating was a big enough mess as it is... and I just didn't have it in me this year to do it all. The kids had a blast. Travis just likes to eat the frosting and sprinkles more than actually decorating the cookies, and Av's liked to shake the sprinkles bottle! Merry Christmas!

Pooping sitting down!

Finally my son is sitting down to poop! I decided to go back to the whole bribing thing since it seemed to work the first time. I offered Travis a skateboard if he would sit to go poop. For those who don't know, he would stand on the toilet seat to go poop. Once I offered him the skateboard he went right up stairs that night and went poop sitting down. So after preschool the next day we went to Target and he picked one out. The best $11 dollars I have ever spent!

So much to be Thankful for!!

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year. I thought it would be nice not to have to go anywhere and the kids would have all their stuff here. It was really nice to have everyone over!! I made the Turkey and stuffing from scratch! Thanks to mom who had all the great recipes. Amie came over the night before and made boysenberry pies from scratch!! They turned out great!! Travis couldn't wait for Courtney to come over. Courtney is Kyle's girlfriend who Travis feel in love with at Avery's birthday party. I am so thankful for my family and friends, they are the people who keep me going day to day!!!

"My tummy is killing me"

On November 17th just a typical Tuesday evening I put Travis to bed, yet he kept getting out of bed, once to go poop, then again to say and I quote "my tummy is killing me". He got in bed with us and then had to go poop again. I thought OK, he is just constipated and hopefully his tummy will feel better in the morning. An hour later I got woke up to Travis throwing up all over our bed!!! Then he rolled in it, and threw up more!!! I picked him up and brought him into the bathroom... the kid was covered in yak. I got him all cleaned up and in his bed, then spent another hour getting our bedding in the wash... and ended up sleeping with him. The lesson to learn from this is, when your kid says his tummy is killing him, get him a bowl just in case. :-)

Halloween & Snow??

Can you believe we had a big snow storm right before Halloween!!! Luckily the snow stopped for us to still trick or treat. Avery went to a few houses with T, but it was really too cold for her, so Clint and T went on to the rest of the houses. Travis was a baseball player and Avery was a lady bug. Avery did not like the little hat, so she was upset in some of the pics. Travis wore one of his dads or uncle Kyle's old baseball shirt, so it had his name on the back! Too cute!! My mom was out for Avery's birthday, so they had decorated pumpkins with her for Halloween. Overall the kids had a lot of fun and Travis got lot's of candy!

I turned 33!

Well, fourteen days after my daughter had her birthday I had mine. I am beginning to hit my mid thirties! Wow, life has really started to speed up. I am so blessed to have the wonderful family and husband. My actual birthday was very uneventful. I met Amie for lunch, since we do share this birthday, then had cake latter that day. I think it's much more fun celebrating the kids birthday's, but I am very gad to have had another year with my family.

My little girl turned one!!

My little Avery had her 1st birthday!! I can't believe how fast this first year has flown by. She has just grown up so much in this first year. She loved her birthday party... she would just dance around while Travis "helped" open all the presents. Thank you to all the family for the great gifts!! I love having a little girl, it is very different than all the boy things we do with Travis. She is a delight and has such a good spirit about her. I love watching the relationship grow between her and Travis, they are becoming best friends. Avery was very good at her 12 month check-up, with the exception of getting four shots, she was a trooper! She is still just a little peanut... here are her stats: Head 44 1/2 (45%) 18 pounds 2 ounces (10%) Height 29 1/2 (50%).

4 Years and Counting...

Well this will tell you how behind I am on the blogging. Clint and I celebrated our 4 year Anniversary September 17th. We ended up going to see a movie together. Just being able to spend time alone together is a great thing! I love you BABE!

C & A Wedding in St. Helena

I am thrilled to have been a part of Carrie's and Adam's special day!! I can't tell you how nice it was to catch up with Carrie!! It brought back so many good memories of our times in High School together! Adam is such a nice, awesome person... Carrie couldn't have done any better. The weekend went by pretty fast. Clint and I flew in Friday morning, drove into Napa Valley stopped for breakfast, then drove up to St. Helena where the Wedding festivities would take place. The weather and the views were spectacular! We checked into the little B&B we were staying at then headed over to the Harvest Inn for the rehearsal dinner. It was so nice to see Carrie's parents again and all the other Bridesmaids. It was so nice to have gotten to know the girls in NY, which made for a fun reunion. The dinner was at Go Fish, the food was fabulous... as the company! Saturday morning we started our day off with a great breakfast at our B&B. I got ready and headed over to spend the day with Carrie and the other girls getting ready and helping Carrie. We did some last minute place setting arrangement. Carrie looked so beautiful and stunning! The ceremony was special and intimate, they both looked so happy and in love. We partied to the wee morning hours, and unfortunately had to say bye! I will miss my friend as I don't get to see her often enough, but am so happy she has found Adam.

Eye Surgery Success!

I am so happy to report that Travis made it through his eye surgery. The operation was on both of his eyes. His left eye would pull outward, so surgery was needed. The doctor adjusts all four eye muscles to give them a chance to work together. I knew he was going to have to get this done but it wasn't until the date got closer and closer that I really started stressing out about it. I think it's in a parents nature to second guess and OVER analyse all major decisions when it comes to your kids. You want to protect them, which makes these types of decisions really difficult. Travis was so brave and did such a good job! The surgery itself only lasted about an hour. Travis woke up upset wanted to rub his eyes, after a dose of morphine all was better. He slept for awhile longer and after he was able to keep the oxygen off we were free to go. Clint was a trooper and went to the store that night to get Popsicles and Sprite per his son's request. We had one throw-up accident shortly after getting home... he had too much milk a little too soon. Travis slept most the evening and woke up Friday morning like nothing had happened. He still had some drainage from his eyes, which T didn't like much, but overall was doing so great! We are so proud of him and are very thankful everything went so well.

1st Day of Preschool!

My little guy is growing up! Today Travis started preschool. The school had an open house yesterday so we went and met his teachers, he was really excited that Avery would be able to met the teachers too. Today went really good! Travis got up excited about going, lined up with all the other kids, then when it was time to go inside he started crying. I knew he would be OK once he got in there, but my heart still melted! He was all smiles when I picked him up! The day couldn't have gone any better... well maybe if he wasn't covered in mosquito bites! Yikes!

Avery's 1st step!

Avery is almost walking now! She takes lots of steps before sitting down to get her balance again. The day I got back from NY (August 3rd) she took one step. From that day on, she moved up to two steps, then three... now shes basically walking. I am so excited and can't wait for her to be running around with Travis!

Bachlorette weekend in NY

It was so nice to see Carrie again!!! I am lucky enough to be a part of her wedding, so I traveled to NY for her Bachlorette party. I must say I had a wonderful time, she has amazing friends. My flight there was delayed a bit so I didn't end up in NY until 3 hours later then I was suppose to. We had fabulous dinner Friday night, a wonderful breakfast Saturday morning, followed by a day of shopping and lunch @ the park. Carrie had a favorite Mexican restaurant picked out for dinner Saturday, which then was followed up by drinks. It was sad to say bye, but I am really looking forward to the Wedding in a few weeks!

Avery's 9 month check-up

Avery had her 9 month check-up on July 7th. She is such a delight! My life is blessed so much to have such wonderful kids and Avery is just a sweet spirit. she is always smiling, she loves playing with her brother and is going to be walking any day. She is saying da da and Mama. She starting saying Mama first then da da just happened more recently. She has learned how to clap and hold her own bottle and she will just stand up and balance for a minute before sitting down. Her 9 months status are as follows: HC 44 (50%) Weight 16 pounds 6 ounces (10%)Length 27 3/4 (50%).

Jenny's Visit

Jenny and her daughter Ashlynn who is 2 months younger than Avery came for a visit the first two weeks in July. We had a good time overall, unfortunately we had some sick kids throughout the visit. We were able to celebrate the 4th and my dad's 60th birthday. We went to the Zoo, the pool and went shopping. I even dragged her to the gym with me TWICE! (She did great even though I think she was about to kill me!) It was nice to watch the kids play together... we can't wait for her to move here!

Pooping Finally... Standing up?

Yes, that's right Travis is pooping but he is pooping standing up on the toilet. He had always tried to go sitting on his little potty, but wouldn't sit on the toilet until I bought the seat to go on top. Then lately he wouldn't even sit down anymore. When he wanted to try standing up I told him no and made him sit... this just led to him not pooping for two days. So he finally said he had to go poop again, but wanted to stand again... this time I decided to let him try standing up. Well, he did it! I was just happy he finally pooped in the potty, I didn't care how it got there... yet I must say it was quite the scene. So this happened on June 20th... and today we are still pooping standing up, he still won't sit but I am determined to get him to before preschool?

The VERY next day!

Travis woke up this morning using the potty. Of course he is telling me OK, let's go to Target and get my bike. We went to his eye apt. and he even used the potty at the doctors office which is huge for him! I called Clint and told him we were going to have to get the bike today. We went to the Honda Shop, got Clint and were off to Target for Travis's new bike. The Target by Clint's work only had bikes in a box, so we took it back to the Honda Shop, took it to the Service Department and Clint put his son's new bike together. I must say Travis was so excited and continued to use the potty... with the exception of pooping.

Tantrum in Target

Well I am a little behind on my posting. But I have a few things I still need to write about because they are priceless moments.

Well on June 1st we went to Target to buy a few things... let me back up. We have been determined to get Travis potty trained especially since he's turned three. I have done the sticker chart, potty candy and they both worked for a while then lost their lust. So whenever we would go to Target Travis would want to ride on the "big bikes" with training wheels. The bikes are way better than his tricycle. So I resorted to bribing my kid to use the potty. I told him if he used the potty all the time now he could get a big boy bike.

OK, now that I have told the back story, this trip to Target was our first trip since me telling him he would get a bike for using the potty. (The stipulation being, he had to use the potty ALL the time.) So everything was going good, I usually don't show him the bikes until I have done all my shopping so that was no different this trip. After getting everything I needed we went to see the bikes... Travis got to ride one, then it happened, I told him we had to go and the bike was staying here because he isn't using the potty yet. Well, he started his tantrum! We went to the checkout kicking & screaming, which isn't easy when you have two kids. So, one of the items I was going to buy Travis was a new basketball, so I gave him a warning that if he didn't stop he wasn't going to get it. The cashier had rung it up with everything else and then handed it to Travis thinking this would help, well Travis in his glory decided to throw the ball. I told the cashier to take it off, that we wouldn't be buying it. The cashier had to ask me again as if I was joking, and Travis who was calming down took the tantrum to a whole new level of embarrassment. We managed to make it to the car, but didn't make it home without having to pull over for Travis unbuckling his top seat belt pulling his arms out. In a nut shell, No Bike, No Basketball and No Fun!

Mother's Day Weekend

I was lucky enough to have my mom out for Mother's Day! We had a great weekend, we built Travis & Avery a sandbox in the backyard... Travis thought it was the best thing ever, so thank you Nana! We can't wait for you to visit again.

Teddy Bear Class

Travis started his Teddy Bear Class on Wednesday. He goes Wednesday's and Thursday's for the next couple of months until schools out for summer break, he will then be starting preschool in the fall. Since Travis turned three the speech therapist no longer comes to the house to work with Travis, he instead in starting this class. I am so excited for him, because now they can work with him in a class room setting and with other kids to interact with and learn from. I was worried Travis would be nervous and not want me to leave him, but he did really good. He had a moment of hesitation on the first day when I told him bye, but by the time I came to get him he didn't even want to leave. Then today all he kept talking about was going to his Teddy Bear class. I am so glad he likes it and can't wait to see what he will be dong next week in class. This week they had a farm animal theme, he made artwork (pig picture and a barn picture), they sang songs, played with a tub of rice with foamie farm animals (his favorite), played with a barn set etc. I can't believe how he is growing up.
:-)

Avery's 6 month check-up

Avery had her 6th month check up on Tuesday. She is getting so big and growing up so fast. She is rolling over and trying to sit up, she doesn't quite have the balancing act down so she usually falls forward or to the side. Her check-up went well, she is 14 pounds 8.5 ounces (20%), 26 1/2 inches long (75%), and her head is 42 1/4 (45%). I looked back at Travis's records to compare stats, Travis was 19 pounds 8 ounces (80%), 28 3/4 inches long (95%), and his head circumference was 17 1/2 (73%). I think it's fun to compare and see how different they are. Avery cried when she got her shots, like most kids do... Travis watched lovingly, happy it wasn't him getting them. Avery was running a fever that night, 102 F, under the arm temp. Luckily it went down and she is doing good now. Overall, Avery is a joy and I love watching her grow and express her personality. I especially love how she watches Travis and smiles.