Lilo and The Stitch

St Nick came to our house!

2011-12-14T02:34:00.000-06:00

St Nick came to our house the night of December 5. Did he come to your house? You have to leave your shoe out!

Anyway, St Nick left the kids a really cute toy and I thought I would show you.

Let me first say that our house is a huge fan of Playmobil. Caroline just adores their toys and has tons of them…seriously, tons. So, with that being said she was super excited to see this…

How cute is that?!?

And William has enjoyed playing with it too. But he prefers that Santa rides in this…

The kid cracks me up! I hope St Nick was good to you!

Caroline’s Room

2011-12-13T14:16:00.001-06:00

Since it was so much fun to share Charlotte’s Room with all of you, I thought that you may also enjoy taking a peek at Sis’ room.

Caroline’s room was probably the first room in the house to actually be considered “done”. When we started the process of decorating her room she had a few requests.

1. Blue walls

2. Birds and Owls

3. A tree

Umm, yeah. A tree. So this is what we did…

This is the view from the door. Her walls are painted a light blue (as per her request).

Above her bed…

The wall opposite her bed…

The other wall in her room has double closet doors and the door to her room.

In order to give her as much floor space as possible, I wanted to keep her bed against the wall. It just seemed logical to turn her twin bed into a daybed. I searched craigslist and found someone selling two spindle style beds (really only 1.5 beds because they didn’t have the second headboard, only the footboard and railings). It was perfect for what I had in mind and the price was right ($25). I used both of the footboards to create her “daybed” and painted the bed white.

The bedding is sort of a DIY too. It is hard to find a bedskirt for daybeds (cute ones anyway). So I bought a twin sized bedskirt, cut it up and sewed it back together to make the skirt on three sides. And yes, it was a pain in the rear-end. The polka dot sheets are from Target. The duvet cover is two twin size flat sheets sewn together on three sides with button closures at the bottom.

The Barbie doll house was made for me when I was a child by my Grandpa Abell. I really love that I have something that he made that I am able to pass down to my girls.

The tree…

Yep, I painted it. I had no idea what I was doing but I think that it turned out okay.

I “carved” her initials into her tree.

Well, that is Caroline’s room. It suits her personality well. Now, if only I could get her to clean it every now and then!!

A Halloween Recap!

2011-11-01T09:56:00.001-05:00

We had a fantastic Halloween! In years past William has gone to a few houses on our street and was done with trick or treating. We thought it would be the same this year, so Josh and I had our plan in place. We would take all three kids to the houses on our street, then Josh would take William and Charlotte back home to hand out candy at our house. Caroline and I would hit up the subdivision.

This year I wanted William to use his Ipad while trick or treating because it would be good practice…you ask for something (trick or treat), you get something in return (candy) and then you say thank you. I had him all set up to go.

We went to the first house and I walked him through it. He did great. After that he was a man on a candy quest! William went trick or treating the entire time and was so excited. Josh took Charlotte home but William stayed with Caroline and I and hit up the subdivision.

I held the ipad for him at each door, but he did the rest. He said “trick or treat” and “thank you” at each and every door that we went to!

It was so awesome. Caroline kept saying “William, you are doing so good!”, which I thought was really cool. Our neighbors were wonderful too. Lots of them gave William a “good job”, some gave him an “awww”, some gave him a “wow, that is so cool” and some clapped for him (which he LOVED).

I am proud of my little Brobee!

Happy Halloween!!!

2011-10-31T10:35:00.001-05:00

We are gearing up for Trick or Treating tonight, how about you??

This year we have a 50’s girl…

Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba…

And Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web…

Have fun everyone! And don’t eat too much candy!

Charlotte is Growing

2011-10-31T10:24:00.001-05:00

1 Month…

2 Months…

3 Months…

4 Months…

The girl is 4 months old. It is hard to believe. She is about 15 pounds. The girl likes her food. She loves bath time and likes to kick and splash (she must take after her brother). She is sleeping through the night (Praise the Lord). She loves to smile, though you can’t tell from her pictures. She sees the camera and freezes up! She likes to be held…a lot. She likes her binky and that can usually calm her down when she is fussy. And she likes to put everything in her mouth.

To The Bat Cave!

2011-09-06T10:16:00.001-05:00

I couldn’t find William, which in never a good thing. I could hear his Ipad playing Thomas, so I knew that he was close. I looked in his room, yet I still couldn’t find him. His closet door was open and all of his toys were on the floor.

I opened the lid to the toy box and there he was!

He has really started liking finding dark, close spaces to watch his movies. I have found him in the dryer, in closets, under his bed, under blankets watching his movies. Maybe he needs a bat cave!!

Charlotte’s Room

2011-08-28T20:35:00.001-05:00

I thought that I would share with you Charlotte’s room. I had so much fun decorating it and it turned out too cute to not share!

This is the view from the door.

The crib is the same one that the other two children used too. I made the bed skirt using the tutorial from YHL found here.

There are also two floor pillows tucked into the corner so that big sis and bro can lounge on the floor while we are in there during the day.

I knew that I didn’t want to buy a mobile, so I decided to make my own. I used Heather Bailey’s flower pinwheel template to make the pinwheels. There are two different size pinwheels on the mobile, the original size and then I enlarged the pattern to 75% for the others. I used double sided scrapbook paper that I got at Archiver’s and cut them all out by hand. I used 2 embroidery hoops and fishing line to assemble the mobile.

This is Charlotte’s view from her bed…

I needed something for above the bed that would be safe that could not hurt her if she decided to try and pull them down. I used the same pinwheel pattern and enlarged it to 150% and arranged them on the wall.

This is the other side of the room.

I bought the dresser off of Craigslist for $15!! Josh, I am sure, thought I was nuts when I showed him the color that I was planning to paint it. But I think it turned out awesome! I use it as a changing table too because the room is so small that a traditional changing table would not have fit. The big white elephant on the floor is probably one of my favorite things in the room. I found it at Homegoods for $50 and it makes me smile.

Above the dresser I (as in ‘I’, I really mean Josh) hung the two shelves and hooks. The shelves hold various items…stuffed elephant, piggy bank, canisters with cotton balls and q-tips, snow globe and plant. The hooks are nice to hang outfits on and headbands, etc.

Between the closet and the door is a bookshelf.

By the window is the rocking chair, table and lamp. I made the curtains, the pillow and covered the lampshade with fabric. The table is one of the really cheap ones that you just screw three legs into the plywood top, I just covered it with leftover fabric from the bed skirt.

Next to the window I (aka Josh) hung some photo frames. The “Love” print was a free download from the fabulous Brooklyn Limestone. I simply changed the colors of the print to yellow using photoshop to match the room. There is also a photo of me from my maternity photo shoot done by my wonderful friend Kacey at KC Photography. One frame has some leftover scrapbook paper in it and the other is waiting for the perfect picture of Charlotte to go in it.

And that is it!! Thank you LaKeitha, who blogs over at Home To Three Duncan Boys for letting me bounce ideas off of you, you’re the best!!

I love it and I hope that Charlotte enjoys it too!

Wordless Wednesday...never a dull moment around here!

2011-08-24T09:58:00.002-05:00

and yes, I got him down right after I took the picture! He is a sneaky fox!

My Week in Phone Photos

2011-07-15T11:52:00.003-05:00

So it seems that I take tons of pictures with my phone and not so much my camera as of lately. But I thought that you would like to see what pictures were taken with my phone this week.

William eating a blue cupcake (he only ate the icing and I'm not sure how much actually got in his mouth!)

I gave Charlotte her first pedicure!

William played Backyardigan's pirates A LOT!!

We took the kids to the church picnic and Caroline and Josh rode this ride (watching it made me want to vomit).

Caroline put one of her doll's headbands on Charlotte and it fit perfectly!

My boys caught a cat-nap.

And finally Charlotte turned 2 weeks old!!

Things I have learned...

2011-07-08T11:09:00.004-05:00

during my first week as a Momma of 3.

my kids are a true blessing.

sometimes when you wake up thinking it is going to be a typical Thursday, it can turn into a wonderful birthday.

Caroline is an awesome big sister and is a great helper.

William is interested in his little sister and likes to give her kisses.

a baby's head is the sweetest smelling thing in the world.

babies poop a lot. a lot.

trying to get 3 kids and myself ready to leave the house is like hearding cats...nearly impossible.

my husband is the best husband and father in the world, hands down.

William has taken a liking to climbing again, just like I showed you in this post about His Stunt Double.

it is refreshing to feed your baby without stressing over mLs and calories. Charlotte is eating like a champ and gained 7 ounces in a week!

William doesn't understand "gentle" as well as one would like. ;)

Caroline doesn't want to learn to change diapers...I think I need to work on that one!

it is amazing what you can do using only one arm or one hand.

it was a strange but wonderful feeling to go to the doctor and her tell you that everything looks great and the baby doesn't need to be seen again until her one month well baby visit.

And finally...

I have learned that being sleep deprived, pooped on, peed on, spit up on is okay because these little jewels call me Momma...

Introducing...

2011-07-03T20:21:00.006-05:00

Charlotte Marie

born: June 30, 2011

at: 9:50pm

weighing: 7 pounds 1 ounce

length: 19 inches

William getting his first look at his little sister...

Caroline giving Charlotte her first bottle...

Our family of five...

Gone Fishing

2011-05-10T09:23:00.001-05:00

William loves water, that is no secret. So it is no surprise that he loves the fish pond that my Mom has at her house. There are several goldfish in the pond and William thinks it is hilarious to try to catch them with his hands. The fish are really tame (can you tame a fish?) so they come right up to your hand when you put it in the water and nibble on the ends of your fingers. He loves it!

He also likes to splash at the fish…which probably isn’t such a good idea, but he has fun nonetheless. If you look closely in the picture you can see Uncle Aaron’s feet, we stay really close to William while he is near the pond because we know that one of these days he is going to try to swim with the fish!

*an interesting side note…at Josh and I’s wedding reception we had small fish bowls with a goldfish in them sitting on the tables. By the end of the night, many fish were floating in their bowls and some guests did some bad things to the fish, but there were some survivors. My Mom still has a goldfish from our wedding reception in her pond! 9 years later…the thing is still swimming!

Thomas Live on Stage

2011-04-04T15:01:00.001-05:00

I took William to see Thomas Live on Stage, Thomas Saves the Day on Saturday. Josh and I weren’t sure how he would do or if he would sit through the entire show but he surprised us. He sat through the entire show (I’m not sure that he even blinked) and was so good. William loves him some Thomas so it was a special treat that he got to go to the show.

Caroline had softball practice so her and Josh stayed home. It was a day out with my Prince and we had a great time.

Percy and Thomas were there…

There was singing and dancing…

This is what William did the entire show…

After the show was over we went down to the stage and William was able to get a closer look at Thomas…

On the way home from the show he crashed…

It was a fun way to spend the afternoon with my Prince and I know that he had a great time.

Vacation Day 3 and 4

2011-04-04T14:39:00.001-05:00

Day 3 of our vacation was Friday. We went to a game at Roger Dean Stadium (the spring training field for the Cardinals and the Marlins). The Cardinals played the Detroit Tigers. We had a great time at the game, even though there was a group of kids that were out of control during the game. Caroline worked on getting autographs on her baseball. She got Hall of Famers, Red Schoendienst and Bob Gibson. She also got pitcher, Jake Westbrook and second baseman Skip Schumaker where the big names that she got that day.

After the game we went to the pool at the hotel. The kids just love to swim and William was so excited to see the water. The hotel pool had a slide and the kids were in heaven. Josh had to go down the slide with William but William LOVED it!

We went to another game on Saturday and the Cards played the Twins. We sat by some friends from back home, actually Josh’s cousin Laura and her family where vacationing in Florida too. They go to Spring Training every year and it just so happened that our vacations overlapped this year. Laura and Chris have two little girls and Caroline was super excited to sit by them during the game and show them the ropes of trying to get autographs. At this game she got pitchers Kyle McClellen, Jason Motte, Ryan Franklin and Mitch Boggs. She also got outfielder Matt Holiday, which we found out is her favorite player. So she was SUPER excited to have gotten his autograph (and I think Josh was secretly jealous that she got him to sign her ball, because he is one that Josh doesn’t have).

After the game we had a connection to get onto the field for a picture.

Then after we got our picture taken Caroline was able to get outfielder Colby Rasmus’ autograph. We then headed back to our hotel and did a little pool time.

Day 1 and 2 of our Vacation

2011-03-31T13:03:00.001-05:00

Our flight left StL at 6:30am so it was an early wake up for us. We landed in Ft Lauderdale, FL at 12:30pm and then had an hour drive to our hotel in Jupiter, FL. We traveled on Ash Wednesday so after we checked into the hotel we went to church. After church we went to have dinner at a seafood place that was on the water. The restaurant was terrible but the view was amazing. The dining area looked out over the water and we could see the lighthouse. After we finished our meal we walked out on the dock and looked around.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and crashed because we had all been up since 3:30am!

The next day we got up early and went to the stadium. The Cardinals were playing an away game so we wanted to watch the players that didn’t travel with the team practice. There were a few pitchers and minor league players at practice. Albert Puljos didn’t travel to the game and was at the stadium, we could hear him taking batting practice in the batting cages but he never came out to the practice fields. Oh, and we saw him get into his truck and leave the stadium. ;)

We stayed at practice for a few hours and then decided to take the kids to the Playmobil Fun Park that Caroline had been dying to go to. She LOVES Playmobil and was so excited to get to go to the fun park.

They basically had every Playmobil toy known to man set up on small tables and the kids were able to go and play with whatever they wanted. Caroline was in Playmobil heaven, literally.

William enjoyed himself too. He was drawn to the trucks, airplanes and helicopters.

As we were leaving we let the kids pick out something in the store. Caroline had been saving her money and was able to get a few pieces that she had been eyeing in the catalog that she wanted as well as a Fun Park “Exclusive” set that she was pretty excited about. William picked out a helicopter that he likes to play with.

The rest of the day we spent lounging around the hotel room and at the shopping mall looking for sunglasses. I broke my sunglasses before we left and Josh forgot his at home. Who goes to Florida without sunglasses…we do!

Why have I been MIA?

2011-03-30T09:56:00.001-05:00

I have no excuse. Really, I don’t. But I will tell you about some of the stuff that we have been doing…

We went to the Dells for the RTS Midwest Reunion. I am sad to say that I didn’t even take my camera out of the bag the entire weekend (so not like me). But here are some pictures that I stole from my wonderful friends on Facebook.

William with his peeps, Addie, Alex and Sheridan.

The whole group…

We had a great time as usual and are looking forward to next year!

We also went to Florida! We took in a little Cardinals Spring Training and had a blast!!

And they let us on the field at Roger Dean Stadium!!

I will do an entire post on our vacation…there are just too many awesome pictures that I must share with you all!

I have also been pretty busy growing a baby! Ha! I am 25 weeks, due July 10th and we do not know if it is a boy or a girl. But we did have an ultrasound that confirmed that it is not a puppy dog! Ha!! You can get a peek of the baby belly in this picture of me with my Mom (in yellow) and two sisters Leslie (in purple) and Marcea (in blue).

I am feeling well and baby Pillers is doing great.

We also celebrated my Grammy Abell’s birthday! I will not tell her age because that would be rude right?? She said that she wanted a party and by golly that is just what she got! The party was great and everyone had a wonderful time. My Grammy loves to dance so there was a band that kept everyone two stepping the evening away! William had a blast dancing!

(this is the face that William gives when he sees the camera now…CHEESE!!!)

So that is that. The 411 on where the heck I have been. I will return again soon my friends!

Is He a DJ?

2011-01-13T13:05:00.001-06:00

William’s favorite show is Yo Gabba Gabba. For those of you lucky enough to not have to watch this cartoon; it is a really crazy cartoon with lots of singing and dancing. The main character on the show is DJ Lance Rock. He is a bit on the creepy side, but William thinks he is funny. William likes him because he dances like a goof-ball and looks ridiculous. I present to you DJ Lance…

I know, right??!!

Well, before Halloween I was shopping and I found a toy that I thought William might like. I brought it home thinking that he would love it and instantly want to play with it all day long and never put it down. I was wrong. He hated it. He didn’t even want to touch it. But he was okay if Josh, Caroline or I played with it. He just didn’t want anything to do with it.

So I put the toy up and just chalked it up to $10 down the drain but then the other day William had a change of heart. He was watching his beloved Yo Gabba Gabba after he got off of the school bus and I was in the kitchen making him his lunch. I turned around and saw this…

His name is William and he likes to dance!!!

Bookworm

2011-01-10T06:28:00.000-06:00

Like so many children with RTS, William loves his books!

His favorites are his Thomas the Tank Engine books or Backyardigans. But he does branch out and explore other books on occasion.

It’s Been One of Those Days

2011-01-07T15:21:00.001-06:00

Sledding

2011-01-06T13:39:00.001-06:00

We had a white Christmas here in the Midwest. The first one since 2005. It was beautiful, but to be honest…I was glad to see it gone a few days later!

We went to Josh’s parents house the Sunday after Christmas to celebrate with them and everyone brought their snowsuits. Caroline had never been sledding before and it is safe to say that she loved it!

Caroline and James (cousin) had a great time riding the sled down the hill together. The also enjoyed racing each other down.

Caroline and Josh went down the hill together too. I was on camera duty since I couldn’t really go sledding.

William’s Stunt Double

2010-12-10T16:38:00.001-06:00

This is Elmo…

He is going to serve as William’s stunt double for today’s post. First, Elmo pushed the chair across the kitchen...

to the counter. Then, Elmo climbed up onto the chair…

After climbing onto the chair, Elmo climbed up onto the counter. AND STOOD UP.

Then, Mama had a nice little heart attack and got ~~William~~ Elmo off of the counter.

He wanted a sippy cup of apple juice and decided to try to get the cup himself. I may have to start putting bells on the kid’s shoes!!

Positive

2010-12-06T08:59:00.001-06:00

Forgot to Share…

2010-10-14T13:37:00.001-05:00

So with all of the fun things that we were doing over the summer; I forgot to share some pretty important medical information regarding Prince William with all of you.

Are you sitting down?

Prepare yourself…

Are you ready?

Deep Breathes…

Drum Roll Please……..

Our Prince is feeding tube free!! It is gone, it is healed, it is super!

William had his g-tube removed on June 11, almost 3 years to the day of having it put in. He is doing well with his eating but we still have to give him two supplements a day to make sure he is getting all of his calories, vitamins etc. His supplements are carnation instant breakfast mixed in his soy milk, twice a day. He lost a pound after having it removed but has since gained it back. He is growing taller too!

People who we have told above having the tube removed are always curious about how they did it, so I will share…

The doctor took the mic-key button out by taking the water out of the balloon that kept it in place in his belly. Doing this left a hole in his belly, so the doctor put gauze over it and taped it up (about 3pm). We tried to avoid eating or drinking for a few hours because, well, it just came out. I know, gross. By the next morning, I took the gauze off and the hole was closed. Just like that! Easy as pie!!

To be honest, I was a nervous wreck before the doctor took it out, second guessing whether or not he could do without it. But I am so happy that it is gone. And honestly, if someone would have told me that William would not have his tube a year ago, I would have laughed in their face, he was just not eating well by mouth. Boy, what a difference a year makes!!

Now, don’t get me wrong…William still has some difficulties with eating. For example, he likes what he likes and will only eat what he likes! So we have pizza, a lot. He isn’t a fan of the vegetable variety and he isn’t a real meat eater either, because I am sure that hot dogs don’t really count as a meat. Ahem. But what we have found that works is dipping sauces! If it can be dipped in something, chances are he will try it!! So we go through a lot, a lot of ketchup and ranch dressing! And yes, he will dip green beans in ketchup, eeewww!!

So there you have it…the Prince is tube free! Woo Hoo!!

C H I C A G O

2010-10-07T13:23:00.001-05:00

On Monday morning, bright and early, Caroline and I packed our things and headed for the train station!

This year Caroline decided that instead of having a party with her friends from school she wanted to go to the American Girl Place. So that is what we did!

When we booked our tickets for the train we realized that the train tracks were under maintenance between the St Louis station and the Springfield, IL station. Because of this, we could either ride a Greyhound bus from St Louis to Springfield or just drive to Springfield and catch the train there. We chose to drive to Springfield.

Waiting in the station…

Getting ready to board the train…

Very excitedly waiting for the train depart…

The train departed Springfield at 8:38am and arrived at Chicago’s Union Station at 12:20pm. Caroline really enjoyed the train.

When we arrived in Chicago we took a cab to our hotel. It was Caroline’s first taxi ride.

Once we checked in at the hotel and dropped our bags off, we did a little site seeing at the Hancock Building.

We went to the 95th floor observatory, the thought of it makes me nauseous, but I managed!

We could see the Navy Pier…

And other tall buildings…

They gave us headphones and little radio things and gave an overview of what you were looking at out of each window. Caroline kept getting mad because her headphones kept falling off…

We had fun seeing the skyline of Chicago!

After we left the Hancock building we crossed the street and went to a store that was right next door!

AMERICAN GIRL PLACE!!!

The girl could barely contain her excitement. She was going every which way and didn’t know what to look at first! It was funny!

Before the girl got her shop on, I surprised her with lunch at the cafe, where Molly joined us for lunch!

The cafe was the cutest! And Caroline loved every.single.minute.of.it!!

Our first course was cinnamon rolls, which were heavenly.

Then we had appetizers…

which I didn’t get a picture of! We had strawberries and cheese, soft pretzel balls with cheese in the middle and cucumber slices.

For our main course, I had a grilled chicken salad and Caroline had baked macaroni and cheese…

Then we had dessert! That is chocolate pudding in the flower pot, a flower shaped piece of cake and a butterfly sugar cookie.

All of the food was fabulous and it was such a fun, sweet experience for Caroline! After lunch, we did some shopping. Caroline had made a list of the things that she wanted before we left so she got out her list and picked out all of her things. She was spending her birthday money and I must say that she spent it wisely! On a side note: Caroline also chose to put a large part of her birthday money into her savings account too!

Back at the hotel she had to look at everything!!

She was so excited that she finally got her Molly doll!!

We were beat from our long day, so we decided to rent a movie and go to bed!

The next morning we got up and went to Dunkin’ Donuts, which was right around the corner from the hotel. Caroline loved the donut!!

After our breakfast, we walked to the Navy Pier. We stopped at the shore line and a nice woman offered to take our picture…

And then we made our way to the pier…

And we also stopped and took Caroline’s picture in front of the huge macaroni noodle!

We walked the pier and did some early Christmas shopping.

And then we rode this…

After all of that we walked back towards our hotel, stopped for lunch and did a little more shopping and site seeing.

Then we took another taxi ride to the train station for our ride home. Molly enjoyed people watching at the station…

Our train left Chicago at 5:15pm and we pulled into our driveway at 11pm. It was a fun time and Caroline is already talking about going back!!

The Party

2010-10-02T20:39:00.001-05:00

We had a family party for Caroline today after her soccer game (which her team won, 7-0!). It was a nice party and Caroline was so happy to see everyone and play with her cousins.

We sang happy birthday and William got just as excited as when we sang it to him on his birthday!

Caroline helped me make the cake the day before, I think it turned out really good and it tasted wonderful!

She opened gifts and William was very interested.

She read every card out loud.

Mikkah was so excited about the gift that he got for “Taroline”. He picked it out all by himself (and he couldn’t keep a secret to save his life!!).

Aunt Marty came home from Indiana for the party! Caroline was so excited that Marcea and Dane (her boyfriend) came to the party.

After everyone left, Caroline and Josh got in the car and headed downtown to go the Blues game! They are there now and I am sure that they are having fun (Caroline’s favorite player, TJ Oshie is playing). The girl has had a long, fun day!

Her Lucky 7

2010-10-02T20:19:00.001-05:00

She blew out a candle with breakfast, lunch and dinner…

She had an owl cupcake…

She got some loot…

I let Caroline decide what she wanted to have for lunch and dinner for her birthday. She chose macaroni and cheese for lunch and chicken and dumplings for supper. After dinner we sang happy birthday for the third and final time of the day and then she opened her cards. She asked for money for her birthday because we are going to the American Girl store on Monday and she wanted some spending money…she was tickled pink!

Her face when she realized that she had enough money for the AG doll that she is wanting…

She had a good day…

Happy Birthday Sweet Caroline!!

The Girl is 7!!

2010-10-01T06:00:00.000-05:00

It makes my heart skip a beat when I say it out loud…The girl is 7!

Happy Birthday Caroline!! You are an amazing, beautiful, smart, caring, compassionate and loving little girl. Mommy, Daddy and William are so proud of you!!

A short video of the Birthday Girl herself…

A Day Out

2010-09-30T15:17:00.001-05:00

Yesterday the kids and I went to the St Louis Zoo with Caroline’s best friend from school, Alexa, her Mom and Sister. We had a beautiful day to enjoy walking around and seeing all of our animal friends.

All of the kids in front of the Penguin exhibit…

William waving to the penguin as it swam by…

All of the kids checking out Caroline’s favorite animal the Zebra…

William checking out the lemurs…

William trying to touch a snake!

We had such a great day! We are looking forward to our next playdate with Alexa, Ally and Mrs. H!!

Just One of Those Days

2010-09-29T21:02:00.001-05:00

Going to the Chapel

2010-09-17T15:54:00.001-05:00

We have been crazy around here! My sister, Leslie got married last weekend. So the weeks leading up to the big day were kind of busy! During the ceremony

My sister, Leslie and I before the wedding.

My sister, Marcea and I before we walked down the aisle.

My Dad giving Leslie away.

The wedding was beautiful and my sister looked amazing. I could not be happier for Leslie and Aaron! It was an honor to be the Matron of Honor.

Looks Like Trouble

2010-08-19T22:38:00.000-05:00

Bad things seem to happen when William is quiet for too long. Case in point…

This evening I couldn’t hear William. I called his name and then heard his footsteps. He rounded the corner with an empty bottle of bubbles in his hand. Then I remembered that this morning while waiting for the school bus I blew some bubbles for Will. Then the bus came so I put the container on the cabinet in the foyer and forgot about it until know.

I walked into the foyer and found this…

But how did he reach it? I put the container towards the back. Ahhh, now I see…

He used some awesome problem solving skills and put one of his train table houses up to the cabinet and stood on it so that he could reach the bubbles! I cleaned up the bubbles, put the train house (or whatever it is called) away and gave the smarty pants a high five.

The Party

2010-08-18T22:24:00.001-05:00

William’s party was a huge success. He had a great time and so did our guests.

We had mini cookies…

and mini cupcakes…

with a candy table with mini candies…

and mini goldfish and cheese sandwich crackers…

We sang “Happy Birthday Dear William”

and he made us laugh when he made this face before blowing out his candle…

He opened up some cool gifts. He wanted to open and play with each toy before moving on to the next…

Alex was at the party and was showing off his new walking skills…

And Dominic was there too! He was showing off his new sitting up skills…

William thought it was cool to have his friends celebrating with him…

It was a great party, with great family and friends. Thank you to everyone that came and celebrated with William, you made his day extra special. I think that William is already looking forward to next year!!

Prince William turns 4!

2010-08-15T18:45:00.001-05:00

Today my sweet little Prince turned 4 years old. We had his party yesterday (pictures to come soon!) but today we didn’t really have big plans. We decided that Will would love to celebrate his birthday by going to the pool, one of his favorite things to do!

I took some video of William jumping in…

And William and Josh doing their cool trick…

And after dinner we celebrated with a cupcake and singing…

And we are finishing off William’s special day by watching Dora’s Birthday Adventure before heading to bed.

In he goes…

2010-08-04T08:38:00.001-05:00

And this is how William enters the pool, every single time!

First Day of School 2010

2010-07-26T13:23:00.001-05:00

Caroline and William started school on the same day this year, July 15th.

William gets on the bus first at 7:50am. He was ready to go!!

It was so different than last year…

He was excited and so was I. He was all strapped in and off they went…

Then Caroline got on the bus at 8:50am. She was all kinds of excited!!

Caroline with her friends at the bus stop…

And then she was off…

Then Will came home at 12:10pm. The bus dropped him off…

And he was happy to see me…

I didn’t get pictures of Caroline when she got off of the bus at 4:30pm because we were running late for swim lessons!!

That was their first day, as witnessed by me, the Mom of these two amazing kids!

The St Louis Gateway Arch

2010-07-19T09:21:00.001-05:00

Caroline has been asking to go up in the arch for a long time. We decided it was time to take her and William to the wonderful monument that is right in their backyard.

Riding the tram up to the top…

Can I just tell ya, I am not a fan of the “tram”. It’s a little car the size of an egg and they cram 5 people in it, with no air flow. Let’s just say, I was glad to finally get to the top…which takes 4 minutes.

Caroline looking down onto the Mississippi River…

And of course, we had to take a picture of the best place on earth…

William, I believe is afraid of heights…I can’t blame him. I tried to put him up by a window to look down. He looked one time then shook his head no when I tried to do it again. He didn’t want to look.

We stayed at the top for about 20 minutes and then came down. Caroline thought it was pretty cool.

Hanging out under the arch…

Our Summer

2010-07-12T20:05:00.001-05:00

Okay, so I have been MIA for awhile. The kids only have 6 weeks of summer vacation and I feel like we have been busy the entire time. So I will give you a re-cap of our summer vacation (school starts on Thursday!).

Caroline played softball this summer. She loved it. Josh also got to do a little coaching, which I think he enjoyed too.

We had a bit of nature in our backyard. The kids and I found a turtle in the yard…

And we also had some baby birds…

I went on my annual RTS Momma’s weekend with my friends, Kelly and Jessica! I had a fabulous time, I love these girls! We went to Kelly’s family mountain house in NC. It was beautiful and relaxing. We hiked down to this waterfall one morning…

And us standing with the mountain view behind us…

Until next year my friends!

Caroline did 2 weeks of VBS. She loved it and had a great time. She did one week at Grammy’s church and one week at our church here in town. I think she could have done VBS every week if it were possible! She loved it that much!

We have also been swimming A LOT! The kids are little water bugs…William for sure. I have no pictures of them at the pool because I am usually too busy keeping one little boy safe (not running, staying off of the steps, etc). But hopefully soon I will be able to get some pictures.

On the 4th of July we went to my Sister’s house and the kids played on the slip-n-slide. They had a blast! Will was actually trying to slide on it. Caroline was a pro!

I am sure there are some other things that I have forgot to mention. But for the most part…that was our summer, in a nutshell.

Softball

2010-06-18T11:18:00.001-05:00

We have a future softball star in our family!

Sweet Kids

2010-06-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

These are some recent pictures that I took of the kids…they will be framed and put on the wall!

Caroline’s Kindergarten Program

2010-06-01T21:16:00.001-05:00

Caroline’s class had their end of the year program today. They sang a bunch of songs (all of them had movements!) and it was just the cutest! Here are a bunch of pictures of them singing…

(Caroline is wearing the white t-shirt and jean shorts)

Here is a video of them singing…

The program was cute as a button and kids had worked so hard preparing for it. The kids also gave their awesome teacher (Mrs. Crawford) a gift, a necklace with her monogram on the front and the year on the back and also a gift card to a spa. She cried and thanked them all. Every single child had a smile of pride on their faces when she opened her gifts…so cute.

Oh, I almost forgot…each child stood up and introduced themselves and told us what they wanted to be when they grew up. Caroline stood up and said, “My name is Caroline and I want to be a scientist when I grow up”. Aww, she makes her Momma and Daddy proud!!

William’s End of the Year Celebration

2010-06-01T20:51:00.001-05:00

Today Josh and I went to William’s school for the end of the year celebration. There were 4 students in William’s class that graduated and are going to Kindergarten next school year. The beginning of the program was a video of all the pictures that the teachers took throughout the year of all the activities the class did. It was really cute and the pictures were put to music so it was very nice. It was neat to see how much the kids had grown since the beginning of the school year.

After the video we had a snack. William ate Cheetos.

Then the students walked over the ‘bridge’, which represented them graduating to Kindergarten. William thought it was fun to smile for the camera!

And finally, the kids sang their favorite songs. One song identified body parts…"put your finger on your head, on your head. put your finger on your nose, on your nose”. And William was able to identify all the body parts that were in the song!

His teachers put together a bag for the kids to take home filled with CD’s of the favorite songs that they sing during circle time, pictures and bubbles. It was very nice and I am feeling very blessed to have these wonderful teachers in William’s life.

The Rundown

2010-05-28T09:59:00.001-05:00

What?!?! It’s Friday again already!! The end of the school year madness has hit our house. We have been busy, Caroline and William were sick and both missed 2 days of school and I haven’t had the time to sit down and actually write a post! Forgive me.

William has been taking swimming lessons for three weeks. He can now but his face in the water while floating on his belly. It is really pretty funny. He makes this face like…’did you just see me do that Mom?’ and it makes me laugh every time! He can also relax now while floating on his back and actually tries putting his face in the water. Yeah, try to picture that one…head all the way in the water so that his face goes under too. The kid is a mess!

We also had William’s annual IEP this week too. It went really well, much different than last year when I cried the ugly cry in front of strangers. No tears this year…just smiles. William is doing so well in school. The teacher said that he can identify 108 objects in the classroom…so he has 108 words!!! Of course he is using his PECS pictures while identifying these objects, nothing verbal…but he is working on it! We are so very proud of William, he has made huge progress this year. We are looking forward to seeing what is in store for him next year!

Caroline had her Teddy Bear picnic at school on Thursday. She was able to bring a stuffed animal and her favorite book to school. They sat outside on beach towels with their stuffed friend and had a snack and read their books. She was very excited about it and had a great time.

Today is her school’s all day Field Day. They will be playing games and things outside for most of the day. And to top off all of the fun, it is pizza day for lunch. She could barely contain herself at breakfast this morning!

So school is coming to an end for the kids…next Friday to be exact. But they will be returning on July 15th to start a new school year. Caroline is really looking forward to being a 1st grader and William is looking forward to another year with his ladies at preschool.

The pool opens tomorrow…the kids are PUMPED!! Have a wonderful weekend ya’ll!

Flashback Friday

2010-05-21T21:23:00.001-05:00

This week in 2008, William was having fun…

CLICK HERE!!

As I look at the pictures I realize that William is just the happiest little boy in the world. His face is just pure joy. I just love that about him.

A Tale of a Sippy Cup

2010-05-20T08:42:00.001-05:00

William loves his sippy cup. He will only drink his pediasure from his NUK sippy cup. He will drink juice and water from different cups but he must have his pediasure in the NUK sippy.

Our insurance has been paying for his pediasure since July of last year, when Josh’s company switched to a different plan. The insurance started paying for the pediasure and we were grateful…that stuff is expensive! Before July, we were paying out of pocket for it.

Last week we got a nice letter in the mail explaining to us that our insurance would no longer be paying for the pediasure starting the 15th of May. They had made a mistake and indeed, pediasure is a non-covered item. The insurance company said that they do not wish to make us pay for the pediasure that we got the past year because it was their mistake…whew! ((insert eye roll HERE))

So we have one case of pediasure left.

Of course, Josh and I will buy more if William needs it but we would like to transition his off of the pediasure since he is eating so well and could possibly have his g-tube taken out next month.

I had talked with his GI doctor about this before because we knew if was only a matter of time before our insurance stopped paying for it. Since we were no longer ordering feeding tube and pump supplies each month it was only a matter of time. When we talked with the doctor she said that we could put one ounce of Vitamin D milk in with his cup of pediasure and see how he did. If he tolerated it we could gradually increase the milk and use less pediasure until he was drinking only milk.

I started this process on Monday. By Tuesday he was having massive diarrhea, I know…TMI. So I called the doctor and she told me to stop adding the milk, he isn’t tolerating it. We go to see her next month (to hopefully have the tube removed) and we will decide a plan of action then. I am thinking that we should try soy milk because I think he has a lactose intolerance. But we will wait to see what the doctor has to say.

So for now, William will only be drinking pediasure from his sippy cup.

Swimming Lessons

2010-05-19T14:10:00.001-05:00

William started swimming lessons last week. He is really enjoying them. His favorite part is jumping in from the side of the pool.

Putting him on the side.

Getting ready.

And in he went!

He did this about 10 times in a row! He loves it!!

**Caroline took all of these photos! She did a good job!

Wordless Wednesday- Baby William

2010-05-12T15:04:00.001-05:00

**He insists on climbing in this baby doll stroller several times a day but can’t figure out how to get out.

They Match!

2010-05-07T17:19:00.002-05:00

Caroline came home from school today with a gap. So now, Caroline and William have matching gaps!

This picture cracks me up! I asked William and Caroline to make a funny face. William pulled out his lower lip but I couldn't see the missing tooth, so I had to help him out a bit!

I guess the tooth fairy will be making a stop by our house tonight!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-05T08:11:00.001-05:00

Feeling the gap!

A Re-cap of the craziness that was last week

2010-04-25T20:27:00.001-05:00

Last week….was just crazy, to say the least!

Josh was out of town, William had a dentist appointment, Caroline had softball practice and a softball game. It doesn’t sound that crazy but let me explain.

Josh left on Wednesday morning for LA. Wednesday went on without a hitch.

Thursday, I had to pick William up from school early so that he could make it to his dentist appointment on time. William had to have two teeth pulled because the Pediasure that he drinks is known to cause tooth decay. He had to have one of his front teeth and then the tooth right next to it pulled because they were very decayed. The dentist that the kids go to specializes in Special kids so they were fabulous at trying to make William comfortable with the procedure. They put him in a big swaddling blanket, did a topical numbing gel, gave him some goofy gas, a shot to numb then pulled the teeth. The teeth were actually fused together so they came out as one tooth. The whole thing was done in 3 minutes, no kidding.

While we were still in the office they applied pressure with gauze to make the bleeding stop. William was ready to leave and kept waving good-bye so I decided that we needed to leave. His gums were still bleeding but only a small amount.

We got home and lounged around most of the day. But was continually having to wipe William’s mouth because of blood. At about 3:45pm I called the dentist back because his gums were still bleeding. They were bleeding only a small amount but still bleeding. They had explained to me while I was at the office that it should stop bleeding within a few minutes after the procedure. I talked with the dentist and he told me to hold a tea bag on his gum for about 15 minutes and the acid in the tea bag should stop the bleeding. I did that and it stopped bleeding.

Caroline had softball practice so William and I took her to practice. It was drizzling rain and William’s mouth was drizzling blood so William and I stayed in the van while Caroline practiced. While we were in the van, William found an old french fry in his car seat and ate it (I know, totally gross) and he crunched down on the fry and his mouth started bleeding again, a lot of blood. By the time that Caroline was done with softball practice (2.5 hours later!!!) William’s shirt was covered in blood.

During this time, I begin to feel really achy. My body was just hurting. I thought for sure that I was getting the flu, though my stomach felt fine. It just hurt to move.

We got home from softball, had dinner, took baths and got ready for bed. I did the tea bag thing again and thought that the gum would have time to heal while William was sleeping. I gave him some Tylenol, Caroline put William’s tooth on his nightstand for the tooth fairy and we put him to bed. I took some Motrin PM and went to bed.

The next morning, I got up feeling much better. I walked into William’s room to wake him up for school and found him COVERED in blood. Blood was all over his bed, all over him and dripping from his mouth. I began to panic, so I called Josh (who was at LAX catching his flight home). As I was talking to Josh I began to feel weak, so I hung up on him and then passed out. Everything was black but I could still hear everything that was going on around me. I yelled for Caroline, she came in and I told her to get my phone and call Ms. Robyn (our neighbor). I had to spell Robyn’s name so that she could find the number and she called Robyn and told her that it was an emergency and asked her if she could come down. Caroline then went downstairs and unlocked the front door to let Robyn in.

Robyn cleaned William up while I got my bearings. Caroline went down to Robyn’s house and got ready for school and got on the bus with her girls.

I called William’s dentist (at 7:15am) and he told me that he would make us an appointment at an oral surgeon’s office. By 8:30am William and I were on our way to the oral surgeon’s office.

Josh finally called back and asked what the heck was going on. I had forgotten to call him and tell him what had happened!!

The oral surgeon packed his gum with dissolvable gauze and know he is fine.

I am so proud of Caroline for remaining calm and following directions to help me. She was such a brave little girl.

William looks like a hockey player! I haven’t been able to get a picture of his new smile but honestly it is really hard to tell that he is missing teeth.

Josh and I have noticed a complete change in William since he had his tooth removed. He is like a different kid. I am convinced that his tooth was causing him great pain that he was unable to tell us about. Before having the tooth removed he was very whiny and wanted to be held all of the time, which we thought was because of allergies. He always had is fingers in his mouth, which we thought was because he was getting his molars. He was refusing to use his PECS, which we thought he was just being rebellious. He wasn’t eating really well, which we thought was because he wasn’t feeling well because of the allergies. We now know that he was doing all of those things because he was in pain. He has been smiling, giggling, eating, using PECS and playing since having his tooth removed.

I am not sure why I passed out, I have never done that before. I think it was just the shock of seeing all of the blood and being a little loopy from the Motrin PM I took the night before.

Josh got home that afternoon and everything was back to normal!

Oh, and Caroline’s softball game was rained out on Friday. So that was one less thing that we had to do!

Anniversary

2010-04-20T09:14:00.001-05:00

Eight years ago today (this afternoon at 2:30pm, to be exact), I married my best friend.

And just for fun…

Our wedding party

Happy Anniversary Josh!

Want a bite?

2010-04-09T06:00:00.002-05:00

William wanted a snack. He picked Ritz crackers. I mistakenly left them on the table. While I wasn’t looking, William crawled up on the chair and helped himself to the crackers. He emptied the bag of crackers. They were left on the table in a nice row and then I had a closer look…

He took a bite out of each one and then he was all done. The kid makes me laugh!

Easter 2010

2010-04-08T20:43:00.002-05:00

On Easter morning, the kids woke and and found their baskets. We then got dressed and ready for church. Before we left for church we found some eggs in the yard and the kids posed for a picture.

After church we went to Sparta to Josh’s mom and dad’s house for lunch. Andrea took a picture of Josh and I…

After hanging with Josh’s family for awhile we drove to my Grammy Abell’s house where we got to see some of my family.

We didn’t get a single picture of our whole family together, which is disappointing…maybe next year!

Egg Dying 2010

2010-04-08T09:13:00.001-05:00

This was the first year that William really wanted to help dye the Easter eggs. Caroline was really into it, as with ALL things crafty.

Here is William dying his egg…

And then he was over it. He didn’t really want to dye anymore eggs.

(and yes, those are Stitch pajamas!)

Caroline dying her Easter eggs…

William dyed one egg (with his name on it) and Caroline dyed 23 eggs. That’s a lot of eggs…

Vacation Pictures

2010-03-26T05:00:00.000-05:00

After going through more vacation pictures, I found some that I thought you would enjoy.

Caroline and I went for a walk on the beach and found these big rocks along the shoreline.

There were seashells everywhere! Caroline was in heaven.

Caroline taking a self-portrait.

Vacation

2010-03-25T14:59:00.001-05:00

Mr. Cow went on vacation!

And we went along too!

Josh and I took that kids (and Mr. Cow) to Jupiter, FL and took in a few Cardinal Spring Training games. It was a blast! We went to a game on Friday, to practice on Saturday and then another game on Sunday.

Caroline loved trying to get autographs. The seats that we had were right behind the Cardinal’s bullpen, so she was able to get a lot during the games and then she got one at the practice.

Caroline took this photo, Josh Kinney signing for the kids behind him. This is how close Caroline was to the players in the bullpen!

Before the game on Friday, Lou Brock came up to her and two other girls sitting in the front row and started talking to them and offered to sign their ball. Josh was standing behind Caroline nearly peeing himself and Caroline had no clue who she was talking too!! It was very funny. Then we explained who that was and she was very excited.

This was the only picture we could get because I had my zoom lens on my camera so it was hard to get a picture because he was standing so close to us.

After the practice on Saturday one of the pitching coaches threw William a baseball. The Cardinal’s new starting pitcher, Jaime Garcia was signing, so Josh got the ball signed for William. Caroline also had him sign her ball.

Some of the other players that signed Caroline’s ball included Skip Schumaker, Ryan Franklin, Mitchell Boggs, Kyle McClellan, Trever Miller, Jason Motte, Dennys Reyes, Josh Kinney and Joe Mather. Whew, she got a lot!!

Again, Caroline took this photo, thought I would post it since there never seems to be any pictures of Josh and I together!!

On Sunday we traveled to West Palm Beach, FL (only 20 minutes from Jupiter) and stayed at a hotel that was on the beach. Caroline LOVED the ocean, William…not so much. They both LOVED the swimming pool.

Caroline on the balcony of our hotel room.

William was the little dare devil! He finally figured out that he needs to keep his mouth closed while in the water and learned how to go under water without throwing up! He was jumping off of the side of the pool and got mad if you tried to catch him from going under! This summer is going to be fun!

A short video of William jumping off of the steps of the pool (it was really windy!!).

Caroline and I went to the Spa at the hotel and got pedicures, it was Caroline’s first ever pedicure. We had fun and it was fun to get to spend one on one time with her. She picked out our nail polish colors.

We had so much fun and enjoyed our time together. Now we are back home and trying to get back into the swing of things.

Flashback Friday

2010-03-12T14:12:00.001-06:00

From this week in 2008:

You can read the entire post HERE.

The Happenings this Week

2010-03-10T21:46:00.001-06:00

It has been a bit crazy around our house this past week. Last weekend was the annual RTS Midwest Reunion in Wisconsin Dells. We had a blast. Will could not get enough of the water. I really didn’t take that many pictures, I was too busy running around after William.

Caroline had a great time too. The Foley Four were at the reunion too and Ava and Caroline were joined at the hip all weekend. They had fun going down the slides together and cruising the lazy river. Caroline is already looking forward to seeing Ava in July.

Here is my favorite picture from the weekend…

Caden, from This is our Normal, crawled up on Josh’s lap and sat there for a little bit. Caden went up to everyone and said “Hello, Hello”. He is just adorable, oh and Caden’s shirt said “I am kind of a big deal”. Let me tell you…he IS a big deal!!

It seems that we are having some problems with random barfing this week. Within the first hour of leaving home for the Dells, Caroline threw up. I am guessing she had a little motion sickness. Then the next day while at the pool she got into the hot tub and (I am guessing here) inhaled some of the chemical fumes. She started coughing and coughing and coughing. Coughing so hard she couldn’t catch her breath….and then…she barfed. She is doing fine and didn’t get sick on the way home.

And then, Will was walking around in the little pool, lost his balance and went under, sucked in some water and barfed. On the way home, within the first hour of leaving the Dells, he decided to hurl in his car seat. Then on Monday, we were taking Caroline to church and he barfed in his car seat again. So lets just say that the car seat and van stink!

We just happened to have an appointment with GI on Tuesday. I asked Dr. Brady about all of the vomit as of recently and she didn’t seem worried. We are just going to increase his meds and see what happens. He hasn’t been sick in two days, so I think we are in the clear. Fingers crossed.

While we were at GI, I talked to her about removing the g-tube. She wants to see him back in June, so if we haven’t used the g-tube during the next three months then she will take the tube out at the June visit! I am excited but nervous all at the same time.

This post seems to be all over the place, so I will end it here.

3.3.10

2010-03-03T12:49:00.001-06:00

Today is the Day! Today is the day that we start saying something when we hear someone call a person with typical cognitive development a ‘retard’ or ‘retarded’. It is the day that we stand up for those in our society that can not defend themselves. William has Rubinstein Taybi Syndrome, which is characterized by mental retardation. Think about William when he hear someone use the r-word and politely tell them that it is not cool. Take a stand. Let William and all of his RTS brothers and sisters know that you have their backs!

Na, Na A Boo, Boo!

2010-02-26T15:00:00.001-06:00

So I am sitting on the couch, with Will ~~snoring like a train~~ sleeping peacefully on my lap, trying to type with one hand. I know you are thinking to yourself, ‘what is so important that you must blog about it right away?’ Well lucky for you, my camera was right next to me because I HAD to snap a quick picture for Mr. Cow (old cow).

I was ~~smelling~~ looking at him, thinking he needed a bath when I noticed this…

What is that?? Is he sticking his tongue out at me??

This is what Mr. Cow used to look like…

I am guessing that the pink used to be the nostrils. Poor Mr. Cow. He is so well loved.

Red Car, Red Car

2010-02-25T16:11:00.001-06:00

Today, I found William in the foyer with his cars…

All lined up and in order. William likes to line up his toys. I will often find his blue trains or his red trains lined up on the table. I wasn’t sure if he knew his colors (and if you ask him show me the red car, he doesn’t know to point to the red car) but he does know how to match colors.

Caroline did this same exact thing when she was a toddler. She would line up all of her toys that were alike. All pink ponies together, all purple toys together, etc.

The kids are different in so many ways, yet so similar!

Two years ago this week...

2010-02-22T20:02:00.002-06:00

William was being a dare devil doing this....CLICK HERE.

And

Caroline was getting her craft on doing this...CLICK HERE.

I think it is fun to go back through the blog and see what the kids were up too. And look how small they were!!!

Kinda Tired?

2010-02-16T15:43:00.003-06:00

William decided that he might like to take a nap. But instead of telling me he wanted to go to bed, he just decided to lay out a baby doll blanket. Bless his little heart...

Good Grades

2010-02-15T06:00:00.002-06:00

**this actually happened in January, but I am just now posting. Sorry!

Last month Caroline got her report card. She had a GLOWING report card and we are so proud of her. She went from knowing 11 sight words the first quarter to knowing 46 words the second quarter. She also got perfect scores in all other areas of her report card.

So we asked Caroline what she wanted to do to celebrate her success. After throwing around some ideas she finally decided on glow in the dark mini golf. So we went golfing one Friday night. Will had fun kicking his ball into the hole!

It was a lot of fun and both kids enjoyed it. We are very proud of Caroline for working so hard at school. She is a genius!

Blues Winter Carnival

2010-02-12T14:22:00.007-06:00

Last night Josh and I took the kids down to the Scottrade Center for the Blues Winter Carnival. The Winter Carnival is an annual event hosted by the Blues for the season ticket holders as sort of a fans appreciation type of thing. This was our first year attending so we didn't really know what to expect.

We had a great time! The kids had a blast. There were bounce houses set up all over the place for the kids, face painting, balloon creatures, jugglers and games. Caroline did it all! At most of the things there was a Blues player helping the kids. So there were several photo opportunities too!

Caroline with Andy McDonald

Caroline with Carlo Colaiacovo

Caroline, Cam Janssen, Josh and William

**side note: Cam Janssen was awesome! He was very friendly and happy to be taking pictures with the fans. He was one of the players that came to the hospital and visited with Will while we were there back in December 2008. Around the holidays each year some of the players go to the local children's hospitals to visit the kids. We met him then and he was just as cool. He is just really awesome with kids...at every game there is one fan (that happens to have Down's Syndrome) that stands in the same place on the glass during the warm-up time. Cam goes and slams against the glass right in from of the fan every game. The fan LOVES it! I am sure that Cam is totally making that kid's day by doing that, which makes me like the guy even more!!

Me with Cam Janssen. I love it when Cam is on the ice during a game because you know the gloves will be coming off soon!!

Caroline's favorite player is TJ Oshie. She really wanted to have her picture taken with him but his line was three miles long. She was pretty excited that she got to be "really close" to him anyway! She keeps asking me why her Blues jersey doesn't have a 74 on the back of it like Daddy's (74 is Oshie's number)!

Caroline, Josh and Will sitting on the Blues' bench.

Caroline, Josh and Will in front of the Zamboni machine!

Caroline in the penalty box, she got 5 for fighting! (kidding, only kidding!!)

All of them had to sit in the penalty box.

Caroline trying on some of the hockey gear.

Trying out her slap shot.

We left the house as soon as Caroline got off of the school bus and didn't get home until well after their bedtimes. It was all worth it because the kids had a great time and Josh and I even enjoyed ourselves too!

She respects him

2010-01-27T20:14:00.004-06:00

I was in the pick up lane at William's school. I pulled up to the curb and saw him standing there doing a little jig because he could see me in the van. He was standing hand in hand with Mrs. Cindy, his classroom teacher. They were both smiling ear to ear.

She opened the door of the van and handed me his backpack. She then picked up the Hubba-Bubba and put him in his car seat. I said "Hi William! How was school today?" knowing full well that he would only smile back at me instead of answering me with a run on sentence of every thing that he did in three hours. I understood the smile as "it was a good day Mom!".

Mrs. Cindy looked at William while she was buckling him into his car seat and said "William, I am going to tell your Mom what we did today." She continued to tell me about playing with cotton balls, singing in circle time and riding in the wagon. She then looked in William's eyes and said "We had a good time today, didn't we William?"

In that 30 second exchange between the three of us, I knew that she respected him. She respects that he is a person that has thoughts and feelings. She knows that even though he can not express those thoughts and feelings with words he still has them in his head, in his heart, in his mind. Mrs. Cindy could have easily looked at me and gave me the run down of the day, but instead she engaged with Will. She spoke to him as she would have any other child. She was encouraging him to participate in the conversation that I had started with them.

She treated him with respect...

and I love her for that.

Feeding Update

2010-01-19T08:59:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we went to see Will's nutritionist, Cassie. It was the first time we have seen her in two months. In the two months, Will didn't gain any weight which is actually a good thing since we were only giving him one tube feeding a day and he was eating the rest of his calories.

So now we are not going to tube feed him at all and let him eat all of his calories. This is so exciting. No more tubes!!

We are going to go back and see Cassie in a month to check Will's weight and make sure everything is okay. She said that even if he loses a pound it will be fine because he has a bit of a weight cushion.

Will's g-tube will remain in his stomach until we are for sure that he no longer needs it. Most doctors say that the tube needs to go unused for a year before they will take it out. The reasoning for this is because we don't want to go through another surgery in order to put in a new g-tube.

NO MORE TUBE FEEDINGS!!! Way to go William!!

We have hit a Milestone!

2010-01-14T20:42:00.002-06:00

That's right folks! William has hit a milestone. A pretty significant one. What is it?

William has discovered that he can say NO. We have hit the terrible 2's!!! And I could not be happier.

If I offer Will something that he doesn't want...he shakes his head no.

If I ask him if he wants to eat...he shakes his head no.

If I ask him if he wants to take a nap...he shakes his head no.

If I offer him a toy that he doesn't want...he shakes his head no.

If I bring the spoon to his mouth to give him a bite...he shakes his head no.

He has learned that he can say no and we will listen. I love it.

Snow Angels!

2010-01-07T14:43:00.002-06:00

I must have been good this year!

2010-01-06T17:57:00.002-06:00

What did I get?? A Mother's ring...or rings, I should say! I have been looking for a ring that was different and didn't necessary look like the traditional Mother's ring.

A friend told me about Cassandra Erin and showed me the rings that she had made for her. I was in love. I had found my rings!

I told Josh about them and when he asked me in November what I wanted for Christmas I knew right away what I would ask for. I told him that I would take care of ordering the rings so that I would for sure get what I was wanting. :-) I didn't want details lost in translation!

Cassandra hand makes all of her jewelry and every that she makes is stunning! The rings were hand delivered to my door step the Monday before Christmas and they are perfect!

*Click on the photos to get a better look!

Each ring has a small inset stone that is the kid's birthstone. Green for William (August) and Pink for Caroline (October)

And on the underside are the kid's names.

*pardon my wrinkle, dry hands...I need some serious lotion!

I love my rings so much because they are discrete. You really have to look at them to know what they are or what they say. And they are meaningful.

Thank you Josh, Caroline and William!

A Year in Review!

2009-12-31T14:48:00.013-06:00

*click on the photos to read the original posts!

January:

A tale of Two Cows...

February:

We ate some pizza...

March:

We stood up and a made a change...

April:

We were living in a hotel and snuggling...

May:

Caroline was a sweet little dancing ballerina...

June:

We moved into our new house!

July:

Caroline started Kindergarten...

August:

Will got a little blue cast...

and had a first day...

September:

I lived in a blur...

October:

We started a new system...

November:

Caroline learned something about squirrels...

December:

Will found his voice...

We have had a great year here at The Adventures of Lilo and The Stitch! Wonder what 2010 has in store for us!?

Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T20:54:00.001-06:00

Love,
Lilo (Caroline), The Stitch (William), Myssie and Josh

A Video!

2009-12-17T12:24:00.003-06:00

Here is a video of Will telling me what he wants. I realize that my voice gets a bit skreech owl-ish, but give me a break...I'm excited!! And I never realized that I might talk a little baby talk-ish to him too...I need to stop that!

What's that you said??

2009-12-11T18:48:00.003-06:00

Today Josh and I went to Will's school because they were having their "Christmas Party". It wasn't much of a party because the kids in Will's class like structure and don't like loud noises or to be over stimulated. The teachers had crafts and small games set up around the room and they sang some Christmas songs.

It was interesting to watch Will in his element. He was having fun, listening to instruction and participating with the class. He wasn't distracted with us being there. He remained with his teacher and did what was asked of him.

During circle time (right before they were to go home) Will used his communication board and requested Mr. Cow. But here is the amazing part...he requested Mr. Cow in a sentence. He used a picture icon for "I want" and then he used the icon "Cow". He then handed the sentence strip to his teacher and pointed to "I want" and then pointed to "Cow". He communicated a sentence!!

I had no idea that he had been doing that at school. Josh and I looked at each other in amazement. I asked the teacher if I could have an "I want" icon so that we could start doing the same thing at home. The teacher said that he should always request in a sentence from here on out. She said that if he brings us just the picture we should direct him back to his board and to his sentence strip. A sentence strip is just a smaller plastic piece with Velcro on it that he sticks his icons to, in order (sentence structure!!). He then must point to each icon in order.

I can not even explain how exciting this is. I am so proud of him. His voice is being heard, he is communicating and he is proud of himself. He is empowered!

St Louis Unionstation

2009-12-11T07:00:00.001-06:00

Josh and I spent last weekend in downtown St Louis. On Friday, Josh had his company Christmas party and on Saturday, we went to the SIU/SLU basketball game with friends from college. With all of that going on we decided to stay at the Marriott in Unionstation.

I love this hotel! It is just beautiful. Unionstation was built in the 1890s and during it's prime serviced 100,000 passengers a day!

This photo was taken on the third floor of the hotel looking down into the Headhouse (main hall). They have it decorated for Christmas with a tree and wreaths. Behind the Christmas tree you can see an arch in the architecture (to the left). That is the main entrance to the hotel/unionstation. It is also known as the "whispering wall". A design accident, but really neat! One person stands facing the wall on one side of the arch and another person on the other side. If you talk in a whisper you can hear each other. Josh and I tried it, it really works!

We have never taken the kids to the hotel but I really want to. I think that they would really like it and well, there are trains there so Will would enjoy it too! If you are ever in St Louis and want to stay downtown I highly recommend the Marriott!

Fireplace Smores!

2009-12-10T09:31:00.000-06:00

Caroline really likes smores, really, what kid doesn't! I told her that we could make smores in the fireplace and she was all about it.

She only roasts her marshmallow for about a minute and then says, "Mom, can you do it?" So I end up roasting the marshmallows and she sits next to me and watches. She thinks it is really cool when the marshmallow catches on fire! But that only happens when I am roasting because she doesn't get that close to the flame!

She has asked every night for the past week and a half if we can make smores again!

Watching it snow...

2009-12-09T10:00:00.000-06:00

today before school.

2009-12-09T09:00:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

What's Up?

2009-12-08T20:18:00.003-06:00

I haven't posted in a week.

I am not sure what I have been doing.

A little of this...

A little of that.

Nothing too important.

I have missed ya'll!!

A Chance Meeting

2009-12-01T19:06:00.004-06:00

Today Will and I went to the shopping mall while Caroline was at school. I had to find something to wear to Josh's work Christmas party on Friday. Me trying to find something to wear is near impossible, but that is another story for a different day. Anyway...

We went through Sears to catch the elevator down to the lower level. We got on the elevator and someone else got on with us...it was Santa!! For real! He had a long white beard, white hair and a belly that jiggled like a bowl full of jelly. He even had jiggle bells in his pocket, but he had on street clothes, no red suit. Will was intrigued by the bells and he just kept looking at him. Santa said Hi to Will and Will gave him a wave back. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen, Will looking at Santa with wonder in his eyes. As we got off of the elevator Santa told Will to keep being a good boy.

I wish I could know what was going through Will's mind at that moment. It was such a cool thing to have happened to a child that believes in Santa. I am pretty sure Caroline would have peed her pants if she would have been with us.

I have a good feeling about our annual trip to see Santa. It may be the first year that both kids are smiling and not crying!!

When Caroline got home from school and I told her all about it and she was super excited. We have decided that Santa was in Sears shopping for Mrs. Claus' Christmas gift!

Career Day

2009-11-20T08:56:00.002-06:00

Today is Career Day at Caroline's school. She had a hard time deciding between being a veterinarian or an artist. She finally chose veterinarian. Here she is all ready for school this morning. She had a dog in her shirt pocket.

She was very happy with her outfit...good thing Josh and I were up last night scurrying through the house trying to figure out how to make her look like a veterinarian!!

Caroline Reading

2009-11-18T16:37:00.002-06:00

Here is a video of Caroline reading a book from school. The title of the book is Stop! Josh and I are very proud of her, she is doing a really good job at school. We are convinced that she is a genius! ;-)

The video quality is a bit sketchy. The dog was up in my face and at one point you can hear me giggle, that is because the dog put his nose in my armpit and well...I'm ticklish. Then Will enters the picture and stands right in front of the camera because he is giving me a card saying that he wants Fruit Loops.

Without further ado...Caroline reading!!

This is what happens when I go to the bathroom...

2009-11-18T07:50:00.002-06:00

NO!! I am not going to tell you about that silly!!! But what Will does while I am in the bathroom. AHEM!

I come out of the bathroom to find this...

I round the corner to find this...

He thought he needed a snack and couldn't wait for Mom to come out of the bathroom. 2 minutes! That is all it takes for Will to turn into The Stitch!

Hubba Bubba!!

2009-11-17T06:59:00.005-06:00

I have given Will a new name...Hubba Bubba!! That's because he gained 3 pounds in a month!! He is doing so well with his eating by mouth that we are now only tube feeding him one time a day (in the morning) and he is eating and drinking the rest of his calorie intake by himself.

He is a bit on the chunky side right now...

Gaining 3 pounds in a month is very exciting but not ideal, he needs to slow down. I never in a million years would have thought I would be saying that a year ago! We are hoping that within a few months we can cut out all tube feedings, won't that be exciting!! I think that we might have a party, not even kidding!! So we are monitoring his calorie intake and we will weigh him again in a month, if he has gained then we will decrease his tube feedings. If he loses a little weight it will be okay (since gaining 3 pounds in a month last month) and if he stays the same that is fine too.

I can not even tell you how excited Josh and I are about Will's new found eating habits. What a difference a year makes!!

Caroline's Bird Feeder

2009-11-13T10:07:00.003-06:00

Caroline had a Girl Scout meeting on Monday. At the meeting they made pine cone bird feeders, you know, the kind where you smear peanut butter onto the pine cone and then the bird seed sticks to the peanut butter, yep that kind. Anyway, the girl was super pumped about her bird feeder and super pumped about hanging it in a tree when we got home. Well when we got home it was dark outside so we waited until the next day. We hung it up after everyone had gotten up that morning, so around 7am. It was still there at 7:50am when Will got on the bus. But by the time Caroline went to get on the bus at 8:45am it was gone!

When she got home from school I told her about how it was gone and she was sad. I told her that sometimes squirrels get greedy and take things without sharing with others. She was already making plans to make another one when we looked outside and it was back!! The squirrel brought it back and put it on a landscaping rock just under the tree that he had snatched it from. I promise that it was not there before, we would have seen it!! Caroline was so happy that the squirrel decided to share. But then before I could get the camera and take a picture of the pine cone on the landscaping rock, it was gone...again!

So that is the story of the pine cone bird feeder and the greedy squirrels that live in our yard! I am sure that Caroline will be making a new bird feeder this weekend.

Sisters Weekend

2009-11-11T21:10:00.004-06:00

I spent last weekend with my sisters. We had a great time together. Leslie and I drove to Cincinnati and stayed with Marcea. It was a five and a half hour drive but it was worth every minute in the car.

We went to Ikea. If you have never been there, the upstairs is a showroom. They have rooms set up and you can walk through and look at all of their items in decorated rooms and then downstairs is the warehouse with all of the merchandise. Marcea had some fun in the kitchen...

And then she needed to take a phone call in her office...

We had fun being silly and laughing together. We did lots of shopping, lots of eating and lots of talking. But the best part was just being together.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-11T08:42:00.000-06:00

TRICK OR TREAT!!!!!

2009-10-30T08:30:00.002-05:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Love, Dorothy and the Lion

A Snack.

2009-10-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

I used to do this with Caroline all of the time. It was how she ate her snacks when she was a toddler. She would pick her snack and I would put it in a small bowl for her and she would take her bowl and go about doing what she wanted. She would take her snack and watch TV, play with her toys or whatever. Caroline rarely ate her snacks in her highchair. Honestly, Caroline only sat in a highchair for a short time. We put her in a booster seat at the table very early on.

I have never done this with Will; give him a snack and send him on his way. Today was the first time he was given a bowl with his snack and he could do whatever he wanted with it. Granted, I watched him like a hawk to see what he was doing with it. But I let him do his thing.

He picked his snack, Fruit Loops. I put some Loops into a bowl and sent him on his way. I checked on him minutes later and he had taken his bowl into the playroom and dumped them on the table. He may have dumped them on the table but he stood there and ate his Fruit Loops!

I can remember the first few times that I gave Caroline Goldfish, she would dump them on the floor and then eat them. It only took her a few snacks to realize that it was better for them to stay in the bowl! I am sure that Will is going to catch on real soon!

It was a small milestone today for Will but one that we were both very proud of!

How about a game?

2009-10-27T06:00:00.001-05:00

Where is Will? Have you seen him?

Peek-A-Boo!!!

Halloween Party

2009-10-26T12:41:00.003-05:00

Each year Josh's aunt and uncle (Eunice and Don) have a Halloween party for the kids. It is such a great time for both the kids and adults! We look forward to it each year. This year was no exception, the party was fantastic. There was chili, potato soup (which was awesome), hot dogs and lots and lots of fun treats. Aunt Eunice had games like the Frankenstein walk race, Eye balls on a spoon race, the kids had to search for hidden bones and of course the annual parade (the kids parade around the yard so that everyone can see their costume)!

There will be no pictures of Caroline and Will in their costumes, I am keeping that for Saturday!! I know, sneaky!!

Some of the kids.

Will spent most of the party playing on the swing set. He was able to climb up the slide and go down all by himself.

Ruthie was Lady from Lady and the Tramp.

Jan with Barrett the Lion, GOARRR!

Andrea and James. This is the only picture that I have of James that he didn't stick out his tongue!

More pictures of Lilo and The Stitch to come later in the week!!

LET'S GO BLUES!!

2009-10-26T12:36:00.002-05:00

Josh took Caroline to her first hockey game on Friday. Josh said that they had a great time and Caroline was pretty excited about the game. When she got home she told me that hockey is the only game where it is okay to wrestle! Wrestling, punching...same difference!! Here are my two before they left for the game, with there matching hats!

Woof

2009-10-23T12:23:00.003-05:00

This week was Fire Safety week at Will's school. They had a fire truck visit the school and the kids got to look around in it. Will's teacher said that he kept trying to shut the doors on the truck, typical Will! Today he came home with his little hat in his backpack. It is some sort of fire dog hat. It is a fire hat with Dalmatian ears...I don't know but he looks precious wearing it!!

In other news, I got a call from the school nurse today. Will's mic-key button had come out at school. I had an extra button in his backpack just for this purpose so the nurse was able to put a new one in right away. I was afraid of this happening at the beginning of the school year, but now I know that everything will be just fine.

Eating

2009-10-21T12:59:00.003-05:00

Eating is what Will has been doing a lot of these days!! Since the weekend, Will has been trying different foods and enjoying them. This is Will eating his fruit loops (his new found favorite thing) and notice the bib...clean!!

And a few minutes later....

Feeding Update...exciting news!!

2009-10-19T07:31:00.003-05:00

Over the weekend Will had an eating breakthrough! Meaning....he ate!! He has been showing signs of turning the corner in his eating habits. He has been eating pretzels and cheetos when he requests them from his board and we hand them to him. He seems to eat, without spitting when he is up walking around, not in his highchair.

On Saturday after church we went to Imo's (a local, StL sytle pizza) for dinner. The pizza has very thin, crispy crust and I cut it into very small pieces. William ate an entire piece of pizza (the slices of pizza are cut into small squares). He took his time and enjoyed each piece and didn't spit anything out.

Josh and I kept asking him to show us (making him say AWWWW so that we could see into his mouth) because we thought for sure he was storing it away in his cheeks. But no! He was swallowing!!

On Sunday he ate dried cranberries, chicken, apples and blueberries baby food, a three musketeers fun sized candy bar and fruit loops. I am so excited for Will! I hope that this is the beginning of the end....for the tube feeds!!!

Hat Day

2009-10-16T19:14:00.003-05:00

It was Hat Day at Caroline's school today! Student Council was raising money for children how had lost their hair due to cancer or other illness. The money raised would go to buy hats for these children. The students made a donation then got to wear their hat at school for the day. I thought it was a fantastic fundraiser!

Caroline before school, with her hat on!

The Adventures of Old Cow and New Cow

2009-10-16T19:07:00.002-05:00

There hasn't been too many adventures of the Cows in a long while. Will has refrained from putting them in the toilet or the dog bowl in ages. Mr. Cow has not seen water (except the washing machine) since we lived in the hotel! It's a record!!

But they did manage an adventure yesterday...

Will thought that they needed a time out in the dog cage!

We have a Girl Scout!

2009-10-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

On Monday evening Caroline was officially inducted into the Girl Scouts. She is in a Daisy troop, for kindergartners and first graders. At the meeting they had to recite the Girl Scout Pledge, were given a smock and a certificate. She was so proud and can't wait for the upcoming events!

Oh...cookie sales starts in January!!

Chili Day

2009-10-14T17:13:00.004-05:00

Every year my grandma Forcum has an annual Chili Day. She makes awesome chili. Family and friends go to her house for a bonfire, hot dogs, marshmallows, chili and chatting!

She had a great turnout this year. There were lots of people there and the weather was perfect!

It was hard to take pictures because Josh and I were both trying to run after William. But I managed a few...

Mikkah and his brownie (that he dropped on the ground AT LEAST 5 times!)

Caroline with her Grandpa Chris (my dad). She was chatting him up while he roasted her a hot dog!

Caroline with Aunt LeLe (my sister).

Josh and The Stitch!

Grandma!! No pictures of you! How did I manage to do that??

Just Something I made

2009-10-08T20:31:00.002-05:00

I have a friend that just had a baby and I wanted to make the baby a little something. I came up with this...

Binky holders!

She had a baby boy, so I made one with brown and blue polka dot ribbon and one with Halloween spider ribbon. I also used snaps and suspender clips.

All I did was cut my ribbon and melt the ends with a lighter (to prevent fraying). I put snaps on each end (one to attach to the binky and one to attach to the suspender clip). And that was it!

I hope that my friend isn't reading this!!

What has Will been up too?

2009-10-07T20:04:00.002-05:00

Communicating!! That is what!!! This is Will's communication station...

His teacher and speech therapist came to the house last week to teach me how to use his PECS boards. We have been doing this at home since last Thursday and let me tell you that it is empowering!

We put the board on a wall in the kitchen for now because Will is just learning. But in the future he can take the board/book with him when he goes places. The idea is that when Will wants something he goes to the board, takes the picture of what he wants and brings it to me. I then give him what is on the picture. His pictures are: Cow, cup, pretzels and various toys. It is amazing. I cried when his teachers were showing me how it worked because I was so proud of Will and also amazed at how well he did. They came in and put the board on the floor and he went straight to it and got the pretzel picture and took it to his teacher! Give the boy a PRETZEL!!!

He has been requesting pretzels ALOT!! I break them into little pieces and hand them to him and he eats them...EATS them!! No spitting! Did you hear that?? Angels signing Hallelujah! It is amazing!! I think that we need to add more foods to the board so that he can broaden his food choices.

He also likes to sing If Your Happy and You Know It. Which we sing ALL. DAY. LONG. But he requests it so we sing it!

I am working on taking more pictures for his board so that he can communicate more! I am so proud of Will and I am so excited about our future communication possibilities!