On Your Birthday.

Dear Beefy,

You turned 5 today. Where did that time go? As I've been trying to think of what to write for your birthday, I've looked over the last few years and it doesn't seem like it was that long ago when you were just a baby.

I look at you now and see not my little roly-poly toddler, but a very much grown-up big kid. It makes me cry and smile all at the same time.

You've been looking forward to your birthday for weeks now. When we asked you what you wanted to do you absolutely insisted on a birthday party with your friends, and Little Caesars pizza for dinner. It wasn't my first choice, but after seeing how happy it made you - how could I resist.

For the last few mornings you'd come into my room asking if it was your birthday yet. It was so great to watch your whole face light up today when you realized it was finally here. I forgot what it is to be so excited for a birthday.

I've loved watching you grow and progress this last year. Because of all of the things we've faced with you in your short life, I feel so very happy to see in you a healthy, active, and vibrant little boy. You truly are a miracle and I'm so grateful for you.

Happy Birthday my Beefy! I Love You.

Mommy

Happy Birthday Sister!

How is it that My baby girl went from this:
To This:
It's official, we have a two-year-old in the house again!

Six

This Kid...

...tuned 6 yesterday.  I can't believe how time flies!  It feels like just yesterday when he was a teeny tiny 5 pound preemie baby.

What a joy he is to have in our family.

We drive each other crazy sometimes, but I love you lots Bug!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Beefy turned 4 today.  I can't believe how time flies.

Happy Birthday Buddy!  I Love You.

Four is Fantastic!

A few highlights from Beefy's 4th birthday party.

Ready to start the party

Play area set-up.

The birthday banner.

Mater (bean bag toss game).

Pizza and Apples - yum!

Cupcakes and Treat bags!

Happy Kiddos!

All in all, a very fun day.

Birthday Party

A few shots from Baby Sister's big day.  

The cute birthday banner I made:

 

The birthday girl.

The Cake (thanks J)

"Mmmm, cupcake!"

Birthday Party Recap

I'm finally getting around to posting about Buggy's "Star Wars" birthday party. I haven't yet managed to get most of the pictures from the day uploaded on my computer, but the photo shown here pretty much sums it up. It was fairly chaotic. All of the good pictures will come in a later post so rather than rehash the event in detail here, I would like to record for my own future reference (and hopefully for my readers amusement) a few things (good and bad) that I learned from this party planning experience.

• Light sabers (made from pool noodles and shiny silver and black duct tape) + Boys of all ages = the hit of the party!
• If you are planning other activities, do them before passing out the light sabers. Once they are distributed, all other structure goes out the window.
• A guest list of 20 (mostly boys, aged 3-7) is too many. I knew this already, but factoring in that it was summer, and many wouldn't come, I thought we'd be okay. Yeah, I now know why the recommendation is to keep the amount of kids equal to the age of the birthday kid. When it comes to boys, I kind of think that in my world the birthday kid will be 5 forever.
• 80 degree heat in Seattle makes for a hot backyard. 80 degrees also turns a "Yoda Soda" into "sticky green mess".
• 1 standard cake mix will yield roughly 60 miniature cupcakes. That is A LOT of cupcakes.
• Candles don't stay lit when there is a breeze. So don't even bother trying. The kids are more concerned about eating the cupcakes than they are about blowing out the candles anyway.
• Coloring pages...Also not a great idea when there is a breeze.
• Last but not least....When it all turns into chaos, roll with it. If they are having fun that is all that matters anyway. Besides, are they really going to remember that game of "Pin the lightsaber on Yoda"? Probably not.

In the end, I think the guests all had fun, and I know that Buggy did. And we are officially done with birthdays for the year...except for mine I guess, in December. But that doesn't count. ;)

Happy Birthday!

Guess Who's 5 Today....

Happy Birthday Buggy! We love you lots.

**We haven't actually got either of the boys "Birthday Pictures" taken yet. Hopefully, I'll be posting those soon.

Belated Birthdays (Part 2)

My husband's birthday was on the 21st of May. He believes that after the age of 10, birthdays are no big deal anymore. Even so, we got him a cake and a couple of presents and celebrated a little bit.

He is a wonderful husband, and a fantastic dad, and I love him even more now than when I married him (cliche, I know - but its true). I am very grateful that he works so hard for us so that I can be home with our kids. It means a lot to me.

Happy birthday Babe, you're the greatest!

Belated Happy Birthdays (Part 1)

My good intentions were to make this post before we went on vacation. That didn't happen obviously, so here we are, just a little late.

On May 16th, my Beefy boy turned 3. Man, time flies. I feel really blessed that we have him here and that he is doing so well. During the aftermath of his accident last year, I couldn't have looked at him the way he was, and imagined that he would be so perfect, and whole and normal, the way he is now.

I love you Beefy! Happy #3.

Birthday Mayhem

Buggy (in theory) didn't get a birthday party this year. He got one last year (when Beefy didn't) and Beefy got one this year. Our plan was to just take the two boys to Build-a-Bear because Buggy has wanted one for almost two years now. Our neighbor "S" and his mom asked if they could come along too, and so we decided to make a small party of it and have pizza and cake after the bear fun. Of course the boys had a blast at build-a-bear and loved the pizza. "S" and his mom and dad got the cool award for the night though. For Buggy's birthday gift they got him the cutest little Radio Flyer Scooter. And (as anyone with two kids close in age knows) because you have to keep things even, they gave Beefy one too, as a belated birthday gift. Both, of course, matches to the one "S" has, so they all can be the same. My boys were thrilled. Scooters have been high on their priority lists for months now, and to get one and a trip to build-a-bear, and pizza, cake and Ice Cream all in one night was just too much! Thanks "S" and your mom and dad for the great birthday presents. They were a hit. Overall, even though it was a "small birthday" Buggy made out like a bandit and had a pretty good day.

Cake! (with a green bear on it, because that is what he asked for)

The birthday boy with his (and his brother's) spoils from the day.

"S", Beefy, and Buggy playing in the truck.

Beefy with his scooter and bear. Naturally his favorite part was the ball.

"S" with his baseball player build-a-bear.

Happy Birthday Buggy

Buggy is four today. It makes me feel old. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago, and yet, there are days when I don't remember life before him. A lot has happened in that time. He has moved four times in his life. I've been through two pregnancies since him. My husband and I have graduated from college, made a halfway-across the country move, bought a house, and we are on our third "family car" since he was born. No wonder it seems like he has always been here. In honor of his day, I would like to tell the Buggy story.

Buggy was our miracle baby. He was due on August 20th. It had been a long hot summer, we lived in a 4th floor apartment and I was working a desk job at the time. All of these factors contributed to me retaining ALOT of water during my pregnancy (as anyone who knew me then can attest to). It was what is medically referred to as "pitting edema". My husband had a lot of fun writing words in my legs with his fingers and watching me grow out of a pair of flip-flops. Because of the other factors though, my doctor wasn't too concerned about the water retention (40 lbs total) until my blood pressure started to shoot up in my 33rd week. Severe preeclampsia. I was hospitalized then and there - I didn't even get to go home from my appointment, just straight over to L&D for monitoring. That was at 33wks 5days.

After 2 days of monitoring, instead of sending me home on bed rest, my doctor decided I just needed to not be pregnant anymore. Labor was induced and after 24 hours of nothing and blood pressures running in the 180/110 range I was whisked off for an emergency C-section. Buggy was born on July 10, 2004 at 34wks 1day. He weighed in at 5lbs 9oz (really good for a preemie) and was 17 inches long. He came out screaming and even peed on the pediatrician a couple of times while they were cleaning him off. He was breathing on his own and all looked to be going well.

(shortly after arriving at the NICU)

My husband followed him off to the NICU while I was recovering. Once there things took a bit of a down turn. They tried to feed him, just to see if he could do it - definitely couldn't. The feeding created lots of stress which in turn caused his O2 levels to drop, putting him on the oxygen tank that would become a regular fixture for him over the next month and a half. They also started an IV (a very sad sight on such a little baby) a heart monitor (precautionary), feeding tube, and he was put under lights for jaundice. The IV only lasted the first day, and he was away from the lights by day 4.

I was under strict 24hour bed rest after the delivery and therefore didn't get to see him until he was almost 10 hours old (I had a nice nurse who helped me sneak out to see him for a few minutes). What a hard thing to go through, me being stuck in my room, and him so far away from me. And it wasn't as though I could just get up and go see him. I had to be wheeled everywhere for the first couple of days after his birth.

(Learning to eat)

I was able to go home 4 days later (a very bittersweet moment), after a week in the hospital. But Buggy had to stay. We had lots of adventures in the NICU (stories for another day perhaps) and got to be pros at being "preemie parents" after his 2 1/2 week stay there. 17 days after his birth Buggy finally got to come home. We brought an oxygen tank home with us, but left the feeding tube and heart monitor behind. (hurray!) We were able to ditch the oxygen about a month after he got home, and from then on he took off.

(Going home day!)

We were told to expect some delays in his development due to his birth circumstances, but we haven't noticed any (unless you can call stubbornness a developmental delay). He is a smart kid who is doing fabulous. He lights up the room, and is full of energy and smiles. He gives the best hugs and is a very loving child, and I know my world is better because of him. I love you Buggy. Happy Birthday.
*On a side note-when we got a new computer last year, we somehow lost all of our wedding pictures and the photos of Buggy as a newborn (why only those ones I never will know). Therefore, these are scanned photos and a lower quality. Too bad, but at least I have them saved now.

Thanks to Grandma

For Beefy's birthday, his grandma (my mom) made him a cars blanket. We just got it in the mail on Friday, and he was so excited to have his very own "yiytning gonket" (that is is pronunciation for Lightning-like Lightning McQueen-blanket). Thanks Grandma.

Happy (Late) Birthday

My husband's birthday was this last week. He turned 28 (but I can still call him old, as he is older than me). I actually wanted to make this post last Wednesday, on his actual birthday, but it turned into a really crazy day in a really, really crazy week. So, here I am, four days late, posting birthday wishes for him. He is an awesome husband, and I couldn't ask for a better Dad for my boys. And crazily enough he really enjoys reading my blog, even without me telling him to. Happy belated birthday Babe. I love you.

Birthday Party Pics

Here are some pictures from Beefy's birthday party. It was really more of a barbecue with presents and cake (I think doing a structured party for a 2 year old is silly), but it was fun nonetheless. I don't have much to write about, but thanks to my "photographer friend" (see "at the playground") we have lots of great pictures..........The Birthday Boy


Cake! It is an alligator, he is just kind of a fat alligator.

Getting help blowing out all two candles.


Cake and ice cream are delicious.


Opening Presents with Mommy.


Getting "help" opening presents.

Everyone loves a new car.

Trying out the new car rug from Mommy and Daddy.

Another view of the "Fat Alligator" cake.


Birthday Banner. (Sorry it's not a great shot. I took this one.)


There are about 100 more where that came from. (thus the reason I only put a few up instead of all of them)