Christmas has come and gone already!

Christmas Eve

Older brothers can be cruel.

I guess mom's can be too.


Because instead of helping the poor boy get his beloved binky back....

...I decided instead to snap pictures of the amusement.

I love this final look of resignation.
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More Christmas Eve Pics:

After having friends over for dinner, I was more interested in crawling into bed than taking pictures. But Collin's persistent little voice left me little choice, "mom, turn you head and smile, now smile mom!! No, you need to smile!"

And the following outtakes are proof of the frustrating task of taking pictures of my children. Does everyone else have this problem?
Seriously, check these out:

This is what happens when I let them pick out their own Christmas pajamas.
Two matching adorable snowflake pj's.....

....and one spaceship themed pajamas.
(it seriously wasn't worth the fight to make him give these up)

I think Caleb is wondering why they can't just be normal.

And an almost decent shot, if Caleb didn't look like he was in a severely uncomfortable headlock. We tried. and tried. and tried.

I've dubbed this one the official Christmas Eve Pajama Wearing in Front of the Christmas Tree Shot.

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Christmas Morning

The following is an insane amount of pictures of my family showing off their Christmas spoils. I really don't see the necessity of writing a caption in between each pic, so enjoy in silence!

That was awesome...now on to Friday.

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Friday

We had been promising the boys a "big hill" to go sledding at.

How freakish is it that yesterday was in the fifties?

What???

So the big hill covered in snow was turning into a water park.

They each took a few turns, but the bottom of the hill was a huge puddle, which was fine when they went by themselves, cause they would just hydro-plane right over the water.

But when they went together it ended up in a big splash.

So the sledding didn't last.

And the only pictures I got are these of Tom pushing them back towards the car on flat ground.
It was still fun.

Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas!!

The Big 30

Tom turned thirty yesterday.

We bundled up the attitude and ventured the backyard cold (okay, cold is an understatement to the temperatures we've been enduring here in the Midwest!).
And we went sledding.

Thank goodness for a hilly backyard.

Even I ventured the cold, only briefly, I certainly don't tolerate it as well as the boys do. Nor do I have the mind to let myself acclimate. I'm convinced this kind of cold is not humane to live in.

Collin venturing out on his own.

And then Talin.

They love being out in the snow. I don't get it. Usually tears accompany the inside warm up after playing outside, and they have to sit in warm baths and drink hot chocolate to thoroughly defrost. So much work.

The Birthday Boy's ride.

Don't worry, we had a lot of fun going out on a date the night before.

But oh the enjoyment of the simple pleasures in life, like sledding in the arctic, I mean my backyard.

Often this is how the boys ended up, on the ground face planting it.

Can you believe they're still smiling?

Little Talin, who definitely isn't little anymore!

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And the past week has been monumental for Mr. Caleb, at least in our little world.

He's been attempting new stuff. Like holding the crawl position for about fifteen seconds. This usually ends up in a face plant since his upper body isn't very strong, but he's getting better.

The big accomplishment is him sitting up now. He's so much happier to be up and aware of the world around him. He seems so much bigger now, and all grown up.

He had his nine month check up this past week as well.

His stats:

Weight- 14 pounds 12 ounces (under 3%, but he's getting there!)

Height- 25 3/4" (right at 3%)

I set him in front of the Christmas Tree to encourage him sitting up.

It worked.
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This morning the kids put on their Christmas duds, and they looked so good.

Here's my proof:

Merry Christmas!

Should I get my hopes up?

Caleb got me out of my slump last night when he tried to eat licorice.
And then he opened his mouth to receive bites of ice cream from his dad.
And when I went to pick him up I had a piece of licorice hanging out of my mouth and he immediately grabbed ahold of it and tried to take it for himself.

And today at lunch he chewed on an orange slice, and didn't stop when the juice came out.

I'm so proud.
Have we finally started to turn a corner here?

Random, random, random...

~I keep replaying the last Sunday at church I had. The day before we went to Iowa City for Caleb’s surgery. The stress. Teaching Relief Society. NEVER teach Relief Society if you’re an emotional wreck. I do not like to cry. I really don’t like to cry in front of other people, not even my husband. I really, really don’t like to cry in front of the entire Relief Society. Glad that day is over.

~Being a mother is difficult. I’ve always thought that. I think that more and more each day. How do you spread yourself to everyone? Between a post-op heart surgery baby, who whimpers at you every time you walk past him. Like you wouldn’t pick him up each time, right? How could you not! And my two big boys who need just as much reassurance and love and attention as my little bit does. And a Relief Society Christmas party that is less than a week away and needs planning, and phone calls, and complete melt-down stress to wrap up. (Why did I say yes to two callings??) And time for a husband. Time with husband is important, too important to shove aside. How do people juggle it all? Oh, and Christmas cards…

~And I was thinking the other day; those that read my blog probably think that Caleb is magically drinking bottles post-op. No. My one day of apple juice phenomenon in the hospital was short lived. Why does my child not eat??? Seriously, he eats nothing. And the reflux and vomiting were giving us quite a stressful scare this past week, threatening dehydration and potential hospitalization. His GI doctor calls Caleb a “head-scratcher” who “makes really smart doctor’s look really stupid”. Will there ever be an answer?

~I am also super sad/depressed/melancholy/anxious for my mother to leave tomorrow. Where did two weeks go so quickly? My heart literally aches, I can’t bear the thought. I miss family. I miss sisters and brothers, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We move in May, but by that time it will have been two years since we’ve left Iowa. I’m aching for mountains, holidays with family, and free babysitting.

~And my last complaint, I promise. My other missing friend in this whole stressful occasion of life…sleep. Hence the blogging at five in the morning.

~And because I hate to end on a sour note I’d like to state my testimony of my Savior and Redeemer, whom without I could not do any of this. I know without a shadow of doubt in my mind that He has carried my family. But my gratitude overflows when I think of how he has carried my son through this past year of surgeries, frustrations and pains. I know he has eased the frustrations Caleb has felt at having a mind of an eight month old with curiosity and the need to learn and explore his world, and yet having the body and strength of a baby much younger that limits his ability to crawl, scoot or sit-up. I know he has eased his pain, and I witnessed it myself as my baby laid in a bed with more tubes and wires coming out of him and attached to him than imaginable. I’ve always been indebted to Him. I am filled with complete joy and gratitude for that debt each time I look at my little boy.

We're Home!

Does this look like a boy who had open heart surgery just a week ago?

I've said it before, but it's very surreal.

This year long build up of one big surgery day, to fix a heart, has come and gone. It feels like the day after Christmas, except sweeter.

Now we move forward.

They released us last night and we made the two-hour drive home by nine o'clock. The two little boys that I was convinced would sleep the whole way home managed to talk our ears off the entire time while sipping milkshakes and covering Caleb up with blankets and pillows, despite the many threats to their lives to not do so.

Saturday Cyndee and I escaped the hospital with Collin in tow, promising him ice cream and cookies, just to be good and give us a break. We went to the mall. I had some retail therapy in the $1 section at Target. Hence the new toys, sunglasses, and shoes (not a dollar!) for Caleb. He took it all in pretty well.

It was crazy to load this little man up into a car seat and head home with him last night. I felt like we were doing something illegal, just walking out of the hospital with this child who less than an hour ago was hooked up to heart monitors and IV's. Are you sure you trust me to go home with him? Now I have to keep reminding myself that he's still in a delicate state. He has to be handled carefully, it will take the bone and stitches 4-6 weeks to heal up completely. So we have to be careful in how we pick him up and carry him. He never complains and he hasn't been on any pain meds. He's very happy, and I'm starting to wonder if they put a new super heart in him instead of just repairing the old one. He's full of life, giggles and babbling.

This past week has been a blur. But looking back I am so grateful to the Lord and the blessings he has showered onto my family. And a ward who has been so helpful and supportive and cleaned my home for me while I was gone. There is nothing sweeter than coming home to a clean home and a scrubbed refrigerator. And there are so many people that have been willing to help with the boys in taking them to school and driving them up to Iowa City for us. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude. I'm going to be writing Thank You cards for a very long time!