Our Friendly Arcadia Ducks!!!

Today as our yard was being flooded/irrigated, these two ducks waddled their way into our "pond" of a front yard. I fed them bread and Bray watch in amazement at this very friendly duo.

You should know these two ducks have been buddies for as long as I can remember and we've seen them pallin' around ALL over our part of town. In fact, they used to swim in our front yard at our last house. When lawns aren't being irrigated, you can find them swimming in the canals through Arcadia!!!

Cute, huh!?!

Sad news train...

This morning I learned that an old friend of mine lost her 3 month old baby to SIDS 2 months ago. Immediately I cried and after seeing pictures of the little one on her blog - I cried even more and then I bawled.

Perhaps I cried as hard as I did because it's been quite some time since I've dedicate much thought to my twins and the way we lost. But mostly I think I cried because I've caught an unfortunate glimpse of the pain parents go through when losing a child they've brought into the world, into their family, into their hearts, and into their future dreams and plans.

Our time with Addy and Quinn was so brief, and I truly cannot fathom my friend's pain! However, she sounds so strong, brave, faith forward and faith driven. I wish I had been that strong and that I hadn't called my faith and relationship with God into question the days, weeks, and months following our sudden and tragic parting.
Am I now on good terms with God? Absolutely!

I just do not understand the fairness or justice of losing such an innocent and precious life. I know there are so many things I'll never understand, in this lifetime, but my questions are still there, and my heart is heavier today than yesterday, and I pray that my friend, her husband, children, and their entire support system are able to move forward and that ALL of us remain hopeful -- that we never lose hope regardless of what life throws our way.

I also pray that fear doesn't prevent any of us from achieving what we deserve and long for in this life, and that fear doesn't paralyze our ability to walk through grief and truly process the various emotions that such a loss elicits.

With that said, I promise my next post will not be so emotionally draining.

I'm blessed...

Right now I'm counting my blessings! I'm married to a wonderful man, we have the most amazing little boy, we have our health, we have one another, we have loving and supportive family/friends, but as I already said, most importantly we have our health.

I'm sad for Stellan and his mother and their family (husband and 3 older children) who have been without them for 5 weeks now. I'm sad Stellan's surgery wasn't a success. I'm sad Stellan and his mother have to go through this 1800 miles away from their home and family. I'm sad Stellan is still at battle with his health/heart. I'm sad that any baby/child has to suffer!

I know God has not promised us a life free of pain or struggles, but I can't help and wish that babies/children were totally 'off limits.' It breaks my heart to think of our loss, to think of other's loss, of other's battles, etc.

When I was taking Braydon to his monthly GI appointments at Phoenix Childrens Hospital, I often saw babies and children who were very sick, and the look of fear and exhaustion on their parents faces would weigh heavy on my heart and mind for quite a while.

I believe Stellan's mother is a strong, brave woman and I pray that healing is quickly brought to her son so they both can return home and reunite with their family and forever put this behind them.

Again, I'm sad for Stellan and his mother.

And I'm so very very VERY grateful for our health!

Please continue to pray for Stellan as his group of doctors decide where to go from here.

Stellan

Once again,I'm asking all of you to please unite in prayer for a special baby boy. Baby Jude, thank the Lord, is finally home with his parents in his home state of LA.

Because the power of prayer worked so well for Baby Jude, I ask that we once again join in prayer for the beautiful baby boy Stellan. He is to undergo a very risky heart surgery tomorrow, so please let's shake Heaven with our prayers and beg for God to work his miracles by using the hands, minds, bodies, and spirits of the doctors who will be performing this risky surgery for this amazing little guy!!!

Stellan and his family have been through so much and they all deserve a miracle!!!

If you haven't already, click on the picture of Stellan and read all about his life and recent journeys!

Another Braydon Slideshow!!!

Earlier this week my camera found itself broken:( So, my fabulous hubby decided to replace it with an even better camera -- thus, I took tons of pictures the first day I had it which has resulted in yet another slideshow of the Moose:) There are only 21 pictures on this slide show... I think I took a hundred pictures of Braydon within my first 2 hours of playing with my new camera!!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Braydon's Tear Ducts Are No Longer Blocked!!!

Well, Braydon is now "officially" cured of all his various "special needs," health wise. He's no longer taking ANY meds!!! And has been on a dairy based formula for almost 2 WHOLE WEEKS!!! So, once he turns 1, we can switch him to whole milk and lift ALL food restrictions (other than nuts and honey). Lastly, our sweet Braydon had his tear ducts unblocked this morning!

Even though the doctor was 40 MINUTES LATE (we were fuming), Braydon will have goopy-free eyes within the next couple of weeks and his constant watery eyes will be a thing of the past.

Braydon wasn't allowed to eat anything after midnight, so trying to stay one step ahead of what "might" happen, Tyson and I decided to feed Braydon one last bottle just before midnight -- wanted to account for the "if-factor." Things did run late today *ahem* but Braydon handled it like a champ and didn't cry once.

He was so much of a champ that when they (the nurses/drs) woke Braydon up after his procedure, he greeted them with smiles and chit-chat, which normally babies just scream! The nurse was so impressed with him, she snuggled with him in the recovery area (before we were allowed back) and fed him a little bottle of Pedialyte and basked in the wonderful-ness that is our Moose!

Here are a few pictures taken before the procedure -- forgot to take some afterward. Forgive the poor picture quality - I took these with my cell phone...

Checking his pulse, blood pressure, and oxygen sats.

Daddy and Bray

Mommy and Bray - I wish I would've put on a little bit of make-up:)

Blogger Friends Unite -- In The Real World!!!

Today Bray and I met up with ML and her two kiddos, Stacie and her gorgeous little redhead, and Yvette and her two munchkins for a day of fun, ASU group photo shoot, and lunch at PF Chang's. It was a lovely day and we had so much fun seeing ML once again and meeting our new friends! Thanks ladies and babies for such a wonderful play date!!!

Here's Bray watching the other babies and kiddos play on their blankets as we mommies try to set up for our future Sun Devils "group picture." Moose is wearing one of the ASU onesies his Mimi got for him... thank you, Mimi!


Mommies trying to place the kiddos for their "photo shoot"


... Not as easy as one would think -- especially with the various ages and baby stages:)

... too cute, even if we couldn't get all the kiddos to look the same direction:) The professional photographer said he could photoshop these and get us 1-3 great pix!!! Thanks ML for supplying the photographer!

Me and the gorgeous little redhead, Abby!

A few pix from Easter

Happy 6th Anniversary!!!

Today is Ty and my anniversary and I must say that these past six years (plus an extra two years of dating) have been the best years of my life thus far! Ty, you are my best friend and I love you and our baby boy more than anything in this world!

To celebrate #6, last night we shipped Moose off to my parents for the night, and enjoyed a lovely 3 course meal at Tommy Bahama's. The meal was fabulous, but the desserts were simply devine. Ty had a butterscotch thing and I had the pina colada cake -- wow, were those some super duper yummy treats. After dinner we walked around a bit, grabbed a coffee, and then headed home to watch Pineapple Express, which is hilarious:)

It was so wonderful being able to sleep in today, so thank you parents for keeping our baby for the night so we could get some much needed sleep!!! Even though it was nice catching up on sleep, we were extremely eager to get our Bray back and celebrate the rest of our anniversary as a family:) What a lovely weekend!

Happy 11 Months, Bray!

Finally on the mend!!!

Braydon is FINALLY feeling better. My goodness what a challenging week this has been. I don't remember another time feeling so sleep deprived, helpless, and frustrated all at once! I'll spare the gross details, but those of you who've helped your baby through the stomach flu, know all the details I'm skipping out on. Luckily Braydon was a great napper today, so I've been able to de-germ, disinfect, and scrub down my house. For the times he was awake, I just strapped him on my back and went to work once more. For about 15 minutes, Bray was totally entertained by watching the laundry go round and round in circles in the washer and dryer while I cleaned our downstairs bathroom -- for whatever reason, watching the laundry cracks him up:) I just want to say, THANK GOD my baby's feeling better. I was miserable not being able to "fix" my baby, and I cannot imagine how other mommies cope when their little ones have truly heart breaking afflictions that mommy cannot kiss and make better. My hats off to them!!!

All in all -- we're a healthy household and family once more!!!

PS There really needs to be a stomach flu shot -- that bug is the WORST!!!