Family Pictures

Well we attempted to do family pictures, but I can't really say they were a success. What do you expect with a 19 month old and a 2 month old, right! We did manage to get a few pictures at least though and they didn't turn out all that bad.

This is actually one of the photographers props, but Brielle thought she needed to either hold on to this or a ball. Brandon told the photographer that Brielle is a little Tom Boy, ha ha, I guess she has a little bit of her mom in her. She said she didn't mind if Brielle held on to this stuff if we didn't mind. Of course we didn't care, we just wanted to get her to smile for the pictures. But the best smiles were off camera of course. It was cute because every time the light would flash with the camera flash, Brielle would look up at it and say "oh no". She was very concerned about that light!!

We thought for sure Boston would smile for the pictures, but NO SMILES. Brandon did all he could to get a smile out of him, but we'll try again next time.

We wanted to get some pictures of them together, but by this time, they were DONE. This is the only picture we even got of them together. Oh the sad faces, I do think they both have a cute sad face though. So the picture is cute in it's weird sort of way!

NO MORE OXYGEN!!!

We are finally able to get back to a normal life or as normal as we are able to. Little Boston was finally cleared by the doctor to be taken off his oxygen the week of Thanksgiving and it has made having a baby 100% easier. He seems so much happier without the little tubes constantly on his face and the best thing about it, we can sleep in our own beds finally!! I am very thankful that he is a very healthy little boy other than that little set back for the first couple months of his life. Now we look forward to enjoying our little boy and watching him grow.

It is crazy to think he will already be 3 months old on the 16th. Although, Brandon and I have been stressed out a bit with him, he really isn't too bad of a kid. (He can thank his big sister for setting the standards high of being a REALLY GOOD kid.) But now that I look back and think about Brielle as a baby, I don't think he is much different than her. Other than he is a little bit fussier, spits up more than her, she spit up once that I know of, and likes to be a held more than her. But to me the sleeping part is what makes kids bad and he is a pretty good sleeper. For the first month or so, he would wake up about 3 times a night and at least one of those times he wanted to stay up for a couple of hours, Brielle NEVER did that. So I was thinking we had it bad, and I would find myself very frustrated at night. With Brielle it was eat, burp, change diaper, finish eating, and go back to bed all with in a half hour or so. Never did I have to stay up longer with her and it was no more than twice a night, but now at two and a half months, Boston is the same way. Depending on when we get to bed, usually around 10 PM or 12 AM, he will wake up at 4 AM or 6 AM and then again around 9. So if I look at that he is a GREAT child like his big sister and I wouldn't trade him for any thing. We do need to give him some credit, he is more of a smiley baby than Brielle ever was. He has the cutest little grin and sometimes all you have to do is look at him and he will grin from ear to ear!

As for Brielle, she is still the same sweet little angel, but growing and learning more and more every day. With Boston being on oxygen and me sleeping in the front room with him, kind of messed up her sleeping schedule. In her mind we were down stairs having a party or something and so what was our perfect little sleeper, that you put in her crib and went to bed without a fuss, has turned into a child that refused to sleep in her crib and wanted to "play" downstairs with Mom and Boston. I think that actually added to my stress making Boston look worse than he was, because it always seemed that as she was about to fall asleep, Boston would wake up, so then I had to feed him while telling her to lay down and go to sleep and having Boston screaming and her wanting to play. STRESS, I tell ya, or at least for me, I couldn't handle it some nights and I probably said a few things I shouldn't have, ha ha.

Once she began sleeping with me down stairs , Brandon being the wonderful husband he is decided to make the floor a little more comfortable for the last couple of weeks of our experience and brought down a mattress for us to sleep on. That definitely ended Brielle sleeping in her bed. I must admit, I grew to like sleeping by her and was kind of sad it was going to end! But we got her a toddler bed last week since Boston will need the crib now, and as I was putting it together there was a missing part, so then Brielle slept in our bed and that was probably the BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER, but what do you do when your daughter no longer has a bed. We finally got the part and the bed put together yesterday, but no luck on getting her to sleep in it. So for now, we have a little buddy in bed with us and we will keep working on getting her to sleep in her "Big Girl Bed"

"Fall & Halloween"- Starring Brielle and the Boss

Despite being chained down in our house with the Boss and his oxygen tube issues (we're hoping he's almost done with that) most of the fall, we've managed to have some adventures here and there. Think Gandolf, Frodo, and Sam trekking on the way to Mordor in the Lord of the Rings, only the exact opposite. Poor Brielle. It's a good thing she knows how to entertain herself. A few weeks ago, we were at my parents and she got to have her first jumping into the leaves experience. She loved it and didn't want to get out,. She called the pile of leaves "tree". Got to love the little gal and her observations.

Lilly Bug was a little skeptical of the whole sitting in the leaves thing. Brielle loves being with Lily. They are becoming really good little friends.

For Halloween this year, Brielle and Boston were Minnie & Mickey Mouse. Naturally, we didn't get any pictures of the two of them together in their custumes. Doh! I will now walk myself into oncoming traffic. Just trust me, they looked cute side by side.

This is the only pic we could get of Brielle wearing her minnie ears. She's not a fan of gadgets in her hair.

Boston's very first smile pic.

The happy family, minus Brielle.

Super Why!!

Brielle is obsessed with the show "Super Why", a little kids show that is all about reading and solving problems with the alphabet. We figured it was an educational show and so we let her watch it ALL THE TIME, we have about 15 episodes recorded. Occasionally you will here her sounding out the letters with the little people on it, but I didn't actually realize how much she has learned until tonight. She was sitting on my lap, here at the computer, and started pointing at the keyboard and saying "O", so I looked down and sure enough she is pointing at the "O". Then she goes on to point at U,Y,K, and L, saying the letter as she pointed. I yelled at Brandon to come and see what is daughter is doing, but she wasn't cooperating as well, but she did at least say "O". After he left she pointed at the "P" and then I pointed at the M and N. I can't beleive how many letters she was able to say just by looking at the keyboard. I guess it is time to start practicing the Alphabet. Way to go Brielle!! You are a smart little almost 18 month old girl, we love you!!

One Month, Already??!!

Well it is hard to believe but little Boston is already one month old. It has been a quick month and the poor little guy is still hooked up to oxygen. Hopefully, he will be off soon, so that I can actually sleep in my own bed, ha ha. We have decided to set up camp in the living room so we don't have to lug everything around, so the little guy hasn't seen much of the house except for that room.

The reason we have him on oxygen was detected when he was in the hospital for Menengitis, but 2 different cases. His oxygen levels were not staying up, they would go between the 70's and 90's, unless he is on oxygen. That has nothing to do with the Menengitis, but they believe his brain stem was not completely developed at birth. So far he has had a chest xray, echocardiogram, and an ultrasound of his brain to make sure there isn't a more severe underlying cause, but everything has came back normal. Dr Paxton spoke with another Dr that has seen this in two other patients and they were on oxygen for 3 or 4 months and then everything was fine, but we are hoping it won't be that long for him. We did an overnight oximetry test the other night and his oxygen levels were staying in between the 80's and 90's this time, so it is looking better. Hopefully, he will be off of it soon and he won't have to keep tugging on the awkward tubes on his face!

Other than that, he has been a pretty good baby. He is not as "well behaved" as his sister was at that age, but not every child is as easy as she was. I don't know that I liked having such an easy child first because now it makes it that much worse when he just fusses for a little bit, ha ha.

-He is still at the sleep all day stage pretty much and wakes up between 2 to 3 times at night. Mostly, he will go right back to bed, but sometimes around 12 AM to 3 AM, he thinks it is time to stay up. Mom on the other hand, would much rather sleep.

-He thinks we are bad parents if the bottle is not in his mouth the minute he wakes up, and he will let you know he is not "Happy, Happy, Happy" as Brielle says.

-He is drinking between 3-4 ounces every 2 to 3 hours. Seems like a lot to me, but that is what he wants!

-He has an extremely loud cry, or at least I think it is. Sometimes he adds a little Howl to it, which I think is adorable!

These are some pictures that Brandon's Aunt Denise took for us! She did such a great job! It is kind of sad because like Brandon said, we won't be able to get any newborn pics without the big red circle since he is on oxygen. The big red circle is from the bandage, or tender grips as they are called, that we have to use to keep the oxygen on.

Cornbelly's Corn Maze

We decided we needed to take Brielle out on a Special Adventure since she isn't quite getting the attention she is used to, so we went to the corn maze up at Thanksgiving Point. We went with Jake, Brantlee and Deegan and had a great time!! We were surprised how much there was to do up there. We went through the little Monster thing since it wasn't "haunted" during the day, but they failed to mention there were eerie noises. We started going through and then we heard someone scream. We were all a bit confused but kept on walking through. A few minutes later there was a loud banging noise as you walked through one of the doors and it scared the crap out of Brielle, so we hurried and exited out their Emergency exits. She is kind of a jumpy little girl, kind of like her Dad, and she was bawling hysterically. I figured I better warn my brother and his wife, Cody and Lacy, because they weren't able to go with us but was going the next day, I don't know if Thomas and Tessa would have got scared like she did, but at least they had a warning, ha ha.

Here are a few random pictures of Brielle and what she has been up to since little Boston has arrived:

Eating her "Pugning" (Pudding):

She loves the show "Super Why" so we bought her the dolls when Boston was in the hospital, so we had something to bring home to her, and she has them constantly. They even watch their own show with her!

Boston must like them too!


Not only does she have to have 1, but 2 binky's! We'll work on getting her off of them here shortly, hopefully.

She loves to play in the bathtub! It has become one of her favorite toys!

The Big Sister

The proud new family of 4!

Brielle is loving being a big sister! At first, she was more interested in cookies when she came to the hospital, but now at home she is starting to enjoy her little brother. If you ask what a baby says, she will tell you "Waa." We are very greatful for having our family so close, because with all the unexpected days at the hospital, they were able to help out a lot. Between my parents and Brandon's parents, they did an awesome job with her. It was so hard to be away from her, and we missed her but there was not much we could do. She loves her Grandpas and Grandmas and I think this made her love them even more. We are enjoying being a family of 4 and can't wait to see these 2 grow up and become good friends! Of course, we aren't rushing the growing up part, but they are going to keep us very busy and it will be a lot of fun to watch what the future has in store!



She likes to sit right by anyone that is holding her little brother! So in this case Grandpa Jack became her buddy, but then again he is always her buddy!

Brandon put Boston next to her and she would not budge. She didn't dare move a muscle while he was sitting there.

This picture was taken a few weeks ago. But I think it is so cute! My brother, Cody, brought his kids over while he went to the gym and when I had dressed Brielle for the day, I thought how funny it would be if Tessa came over in the same outfit, because my parents had bought these outfits for the girls. So when the time came for them to come over, look who has the same outfit! Brielle loves these 2, they are her best friends!