Fire Station Visit!

As I mentioned before, we belong to a pretty fantastic playgroup.  The moms are awesome, the kids are fun and adorable and we always have fun when we get together.  On Valentine's day this year, we had a play date set up at one of Portland's fire stations.  One of the moms, Jenn, has a friend who works there and arranged to set up a tour for our boys.  I think all 2-3 year-old boys love fire trucks (as does one 18- month- old girl I know),  so we were so excited for this particular play date.  We were not disappointed.  The two firemen who gave us the tour were so sweet and so great with the kids.  They let them get inside all the fire trucks, run around the station, gave them fire helmets and even let them spray the fire hose!  It was a wonderful day for us all!

Evelyn modeling her hat

One of the awesome firemen who gave the kids the tour

Max's buddy (thanks to his mom, we got to go on the tour)

The boys!

So much fun!

The guys asking Evelyn if she wanted to try (she didn't)

Getting fireman badge stickers

I couldn't resist adding this one in.  Max dancing and modeling his hat a couple of days later.

Evelyn's Surgery

Evelyn finally got the surgery on her eyes on December 28th.  It was nice to finally have it done after several months of knowing it would happen, although I was a nervous wreck about it.  For those who don't remember, Evelyn had been having problems with her eyes since birth.  They were always goopy and runny and she would frequently get dark red circles under her eyes.  After a consultation with a pediatric opthamologist,  it was determined that she most likely had a membrane at the base a canal that goes from her tear ducts down through the nasal cavity that needed to be broken.  Most babies are born with that membrane in place, but it normally disintegrates on it's own.  In Evelyn's case, it just didn't, which led to the clogs, redness and other problems.  What they essentially had to do was insert a probe through her tear ducts, and down the canal to break apart the membrane and flush out any other materials that may have been clogging the canal.  It's a simple and fairly common procedure, but the scary part was that she would have do go under to do it.  So Matt and I took her in early in the morning where she was weighed and examined.  Then they gave her a sedative to keep her calm when they took her away from us to perform the surgery.

Being a trooper in her tiny scrubs at the Dr.'s office

A wee bit tipsy after the first sedative.  "Drunk" Evelyn was pretty entertaining

After that, they carried her away to do the procedure.  That was a hard moment in my life, watching her being carried away from me to have something like this done at such a young age.  But I kept it together and waited patiently for it all to be over.  I have never been so nervous before in my life.  And I have to give a shout out to all our friends and family who sent us their love, thoughts and prayers on that day.  I was a bit more of a basket case than I should have been for such a simple thing, but I'm grateful for all the support from everyone who is so tolerant of this neurotic mommy.  After about an hour, we got the good news that it was done and she was recovering.  The doctor said it went very smoothly.  We got to sit with our little princess while she was still out until she woke up.  She was still hooked up to tubes and monitors, so I had to use all the willpower I possessed to keep myself from scooping her up and snuggling her in my arms.  Instead I stroked her hair and talked quietly to her until she woke up.

My angel

We were told that she would probably be very angry and fussy when she woke, but she was surprisingly mellow.  We got to take her home a little later where she rested for the day.  By the next day, she was up to her old antics and her eyes were so much better!  For a couple of days, there was a little bit of blood coming out her nose and tear ducts (I know, ew), but after that, everything was perfect!

Resting up at home.  Happy, content, and RELIEVED

This experience made me all the more grateful for what I have and for my two healthy, happy children.  I have such a deep and profound respect for all those parents out there and their little ones who go through surgeries and hospital visits on a regular basis.  Those moms are certainly stronger than me and all deserve medals for what they go through, just as their kids do.

Hitting the Ground Running in 2012

Before I get started on the many exciting adventures we've been on so far this year, I should mention the HUGE thing I failed to write about in my last post.   On Christmas, we got the delightful news that my big brother and his beautiful wife will be parents this summer!  I was beyond excited at the thought of Tyler, who I've looked up to and admired my entire life, and his delightful wife Ma becoming parents.  They are both amazing, loving, intelligent, and funny people who are going to be fantastic parents.  I can't wait to meet my first niece this August!

Well, shortly after Christmas, we took off for a quick visit to Montana.  Even though we were only there for a few days, I was able to see some of my most favorite peeps and a brand new baby.  We spent a wonderful evening with Matt's family and Julia's squeeze Evan, who gets the seal of approval from us because the kids love him.  After that, Matt and I got to go on a grown up dinner with Joe and Stephanie.  I LOVE double date nights!  I was also able to get some one-on-one time with Stephanie and a martini night with her and Julia, which is turning out to be our new tradition.  Thank goodness for Matt's parents who watched the kids while we were able to go out and have fun with our friends!  While we were out, the kids got to play with Joe and Steph's son Will, who is cute as can be.  I also got to go see my old friend Frankie who I missed last time I was there.  She had just given birth to her beautiful baby boy Colby right before we got there.  He was about three weeks early, but sweet and healthy.  It was wonderful to see them both and I was so happy Frankie had Steph and I over even though she was dead tired.  And last (but most certainly not least), I got to spend quite a bit of time with Krystal!  She came all the way over from Havre so she could see us.  I took the kids up to her mom Jody's house so they could play with Krystal's daughter Moriah.  That night, Krystal and I got to do a little shopping and went out for dinner and drinks.  And my cousin Aaron was bar tending at the restaurant we went to, so that was a nice bonus for the evening.  It was a fun-filled whirlwind trip.

Evelyn and Max enjoying some sunshine at Grandma and Grandpop's house

At the Missoula carousel 

The boys and their boys

The most awesome girls in Missoula

The kids weren't in to having their pictures taken

I miss that sweet face!

With my cousin Aaron

LOVE this gal!

New mama Frankie and beautiful Colby

Shortly after we got back from Montana, my great friend Lynn came down from Seattle to spend my birthday with me.  Needless to say, my 33rd birthday was a wonderful one!  Lynn spoiled me by taking me out to a delicious Mexican restaurant.  It was so nice to catch up over dinner and drinks.  The weekend went too fast, but I had so much fun with her. 

With Lynn at her first visit to Voodoo Doughnuts

After a busy but fun January, we relaxed a bit in February, but ended the month with a trip down to Carson City to visit my parents.  I have to say, it was the most relaxing trip I can remember taking.  Matt was able to ski and gamble around Reno and Tahoe while I just hung out with my folks.  We did a little shopping, a little baking (Max and Grammy always bake cookies when they see each other), and lots of fun trips to the park.  It was so nice to not have a schedule and to be able to sleep in every day.  I loved it!

Traveling is exhausting

Fun with Daddy!

Well, there has been so much more going on, but I'm going to stop for now.  Coming up...birthdays, fire station visits, surgeries, and HAWAII!

An Amazing Holiday Season!

I am determined to get caught on this blog by next weekend.  It continues to blow my mind how quickly the time is passing and just how much we've been doing over the last several months.  But for tonight, I'm just going to cover the holidays.  In a nutshell, they were wonderful.  My folks came up for Thanksgiving and we all spent the day at my aunt Sue and uncle Bill's house with Rick and Lori and the girls.  It was a very relaxing day and the kids, as usual, had so much fun with their cousins Rylie and Logan.  Technically, they are Max and Evelyn's third cousins (I think that's how it works), but for now it's just easier to call them cousins than trying to explain the relationship to the kids.  Sue came out the next day and we all got to spend the holiday weekend together, which was so nice.  We took the kids to see Santa with the hopes that it would turn out better than the year before when both kids were...not thrilled to be on the giant red man's lap.  This year Max kind of understood the concept of Christmas and Santa, so he did great.  Evelyn was still not impressed.

As most of my friends and family know, I am a huge Christmas geek.  Between my love of the autumn and my love of Christmas, I am a happy, happy girl from October through December.  I LOVE the holidays- the anticipation, the music, the excitement, the lights, and the joy and love in the air.   So naturally, I love any and all activities that lead up to the big day.  This season,  I was able to do the Jingle Bell Run, Zoo Lights, and activity day at Gymboree with the kids.  The Jingle Bell run was a 5K I was able to do with the kids where everyone was giving jingle bells to tie to their shoes and almost everyone was decked out in some kind of Christmas decorations.  It was a blast!

Maybe the kids weren't as excited as me

Matt and I took the kids to see the Zoo Lights- a spectacular light show at the Portland Zoo.  We were not disappointed.  Even our little ones were impressed.

And lastly, we took the kids to a craft night at Gymboree where they got to make hand print wreaths and beaded braclets, decorate their own graham crackers with icing and sprinkles, then got to play in the gym.  Needless to say, it was a very fun night for them.

Thank goodness for non-toxic paint!

My little artist

Mmmm...frosting

After that, we just had a nice, relaxing December.  Christmas was absolutely perfect.  It ended up just being the 4 of us, but we had an amazing, wonderful, relaxing day.  We stayed in our pj's all day, ate when we felt like it and just enjoyed each other's company.  Matt had the whole week off leading up to Christmas, and I can honestly say that time was the happiest I have been in years.  And that's saying something since I've had a pretty amazing couple of years.  I realized how seldom it is that the 4 of us get to spend any substantial time together, so I cherished every moment of it.  I couldn't have asked for a better holiday season!

The Christmas card photo

Baked goodies for the neighbors (and maybe a few for us)

Presents!

I am so looking forward to next year.  I love seeing the magic of Christmas though my children's eyes and I know each season will only get better.  It's the time of year I take a little extra time to be grateful for all my blessings and all the wonderful times we have had throughout the year.