Stay at Home Career Mom

Daily Focus

2012-01-29T19:57:00.000-08:00

This past week Nick was traveling so I was solo mission with all three boys for 8 days. Needless to say it was very interesting yet always eventful! We had some good days and we had some not so good days. Grammy was able to help one day with Lunden and Bronx while I ran Housten to all of his doctor appointments and Grandma and Grandpa E. were able to help another day so I was just left with Housten for a couple of hours. By the way....what in the world did I ever complain about when I only had one child at home. I still didn't get anything done, but my day was so easy and uneventful. Anyways I can't imagine being a single mom of three boys under three. It's weeks like this that I am so thankful my husband is so hands on with the boys and he focuses so much of his energy and time on his family.

Let me just give you a little idea of what our days consists of....all three boys wanting breakfast at the exact same time yogurt and waffles all around, toaster waffles that is! Then all boys dressed, hair done, and of course brush teeth, baby in car seat, coats on, shoes on, check Lunden's backpack for any forgotten items needed for school, then load up the troops! I have to buckle them all in then since they can't buckle themselves, Lunden is so close. Then I turn on the DVD player so I can load all of my stuff and of course make sure to have the right stroller loaded, single, double, or triple! The next stop is school, this is an all out circus! As I am carrying Housten in his car seat, Bronx is holding my other hand and Lunden is holding Bronx's other hand we are a walking string of mom and boys. I am sure we look hilarious walking into school everyday, especially since Bronx bolts into Lunden's classroom like he is staying for class. As you can see we are rarely ever on time anywhere! But that's all right because of all the crazy stares and looks I get it really isn't that big of a deal to me to have to do so much work every place we go. Its just part of it.

Anyhow the days go by so quickly with school, stroller fit, swimming, soccer, sporty might camp, and play dates I will just fill you in on a few funny moments that I focused on throughout the week that kept me going each day.....

While we were all getting ready for school last week I was doing my hair real quick in the bathroom when I turned around and saw the back of Lunden's little behind peeing in the toilet, no big deal until Bronx ran over took his pacifier out of his mouth and proceeded to put it in Lundens stream of pee and put it right back in his mouth....holy cow I was totally disgusted and couldn't believe my eyes! Yes this is how are day started.

Everyday for the past two weeks Housten has been getting treated for Colic at the chiropractor (more on that later) Bronx has something about the doctors feet. Everyday when the doctor is rocking Housten and working on his intestines Bronx runs over and stomps really hard on the doctor's black shoe. I try to pull him back every time, but I can never get to him quick enough. Totally embarrasses me!

I am officially a mom that brings an empty donut bag up to the check out counter at the grocery store because Tank aka Bronx has eaten the entire bag while we were shopping. I obviously was not paying attention.

Putting all three boys to bed by myself at night is a total challenge, but don't worry they all love to sleep together. It cracks me up when Lunden falls asleep faster than Bronx...because then Bronx proceeds to honk Lundens nose and dig in his ear. Never fall asleep before your little brother does!

Loading up all three boys everyday and doing and going about our day is a challenge but I wouldn't change it for the world. There are so many good families out there that would do anything just to have one healthy little boy, and God has blessed me with three healthy little boys. Today at church I realized life is to short to get upset at the small and difficult things that corrupt my day. There is no way I could have gotten through this past week if I would have had a sour attitude everyday that I woke up. People need to realize off track thinking leads to off track living. I may be exhausted and tired during the day because Housten got up twice to eat and cried for two hours during the night, and Bronx woke up for no reason but I had to and have to keep a positive attitude for my boys. This is a time in my life that I really have to focus on others, as in my family, and not be selfish. Which for most people is very difficult.

You are probably asking where am I going with all of this, what I am trying to say is whether you are having a bad day or a good day or perhaps a funny day it can all be controlled by you. As Philippines 2:14-15 states "Don't let different situations and people govern how you approach tasks." If I were to worry about what everyone thought about my crazy life I would get absolutely nothing accomplished during the day. Sometimes I am late for school, sometimes the shopping cart is a total disaster with donut crumbs, sometimes Housten cries through out the entire shopping trip, sometimes I have to go home with a wet swim suit under my sweat suit because it is a challenge to get dressed after swim class with the three boys...but that's all right because other times the boys are angels in the store, and they take a bath without splashing water everywhere, and they actually get there shoes on when I ask them to. Its these types of actions that make my day AWESOME and excited about the next day when I go to sleep at night. All in all if you worry about stuff you can change, than you are just plain lazy, get up and do something about it and live life to the fullest! Phil 4:6-7

If you saw these little faces everyday wouldn't you want to live life to the fullest? What is your focus for the day?

I am.....

2012-01-25T19:08:00.000-08:00

Well hello there Mr. Blog, long time no see/write....sorry to all of my family and friends afar that actually read my blog and have given me a hard time about not writing in a very long time. Life has been crazier than I ever imagined, but I love every minute of it! I am officially a mom of three little ones under the age of three and slowly but surely learning how to juggle all of them at the same time. I really wanted to write a blog around Thanksgiving time, but I just didn't get the chance because little Mr. Housten came on 11/22. But what has been weighing on my heart lately is how thankful I AM for how blessed my family is.

What made me want to write a blog about all the things I AM thankful for is one Sunday last November during a series at church Pastor Mark was talking about Gratitude. It was a great sermon, well while we were focusing on all the great things we were thankful for in church the kids were learning about Gratitude in Kidzworld. After church I made a good lunch and we all sat down to eat, when all of a sudden Lunden spouts off, "Gratitude equals Attitude." It was then I remembered the kids were learning the same as the adults that day. It is amazing how smart a three year old is! I asked Lunden what Gratitude meant, and he said, "to be thankful mom."

I AM so so thankful for my family that drove hours down to Kansas to be at the hospital an hour after Housten was born!
I AM thankful that my sister & her husband from WI, my mom & dad from MN, my future sister in law & my brother from MN, my sister in law and her husband from MD, and my mother in law made a wonderful dinner for Thanksgiving, cleaned my house, and took care of the boys all while Nick and I enjoyed a new bundle of joy for a whole week!
I AM thankful my parents drove all the way down to KS again for Christmas! I love having family around, especially around the holidays!
I AM thankful that all three of my boys are healthy and full of energy....24/7!
I AM so thankful and lucky for a wonderful, patient, hard working husband that rushes home at the end of every day to help with the madness during dinner and bedtime. No lie it is a nightly challenge.
I AM very thankful for the warm days we have had the past 30 days, there is nothing better than playing outside with the boys every afternoon.
I AM very thankful for the moms I work out with every morning, they brought us 40 days of meals after Housten was born, for you new moms out there this is THE best thing in the world when you have a new baby! Never say no to a home cooked meal!
I AM very thankful for the grandparents that are involved and make such a huge effort in the boys life..my parents that drive for hours in the middle of the night to see there grand babies, grandpa and grandma E. who take the boys Fridays or Saturdays for fun days with the boys, and Grammy who helps on Tuesdays and some Sundays with the boys! Grandparents are so important in these little boys lives...more on that later.
I AM very thankful for the moms that I work out with that have become such a great support system. Last week at a one of Bronx's friends birthday party I had all three boys by myself at My Gym. We were doing great for the first part of the party, the second part not so great. Housten started crying, Lunden fell off a bench and bit his tongue which was bleeding like crazy, and Bronx was climbing on the highest jungle gym in the place. YIKES...yep the moms came to my rescue!
And most of all I AM so thankful that GOD has blessed me with three little boys and my amazing husband (and perhaps I am also thankful that all three boys were asleep by 7:45 tonight!)

When is the last time you thought about everything you are thankful for? All I have to do it look at this picture above and realize how blessed and lucky I am. It's amazing when you think about all the things, family, friends, and experiences that you are thankful for how your attitude can change. I know mine did tonight, which made my crazy day seem not so bad after all.

Religion vs. Church

2011-10-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

I want to fore worn all of my couple of blog readers out there about this next post. This is my opinion and only my opinion, but that is why I blog, right? I have been really thinking lately about the church I attend and the reason I attend every Sunday. Let me give you a little background on my "Religion/Church Experiences" growing up....

I grew up Catholic, attended Catholic school, and a Catholic college. I went to church every Sunday growing up with my parents, whom are both Catholic. But once college hit I never went to church except when I was home for the holidays with my family. There were a couple of reasons that led to this and maybe some of you will understand where I am coming from. 1) I had so many unanswered questions about the Catholic faith and why they did things the way they did that no one could ever answer or perhaps I felt it was shunned against me to even question the Catholic faith. 2) I never understood why they didn't have a great pre-school aged bible study group every Sunday for the younger children. It does not make sense to me the make a child sit through a service that they do not understand all while you have to kneel, stand, and sit all through the service. Would you put a three year old or perhaps a ten year old in a high school math class, no because they wouldn't be able to handle it. I have always thought that was crazy to make children sit through a church service when they could be learning about Jesus at their own level. Plus as a parent you can not focus on the message because you are so worried about keeping your child quiet.

So now you can see I pretty much put "Church" on hold for about 10 years. Then one day last year our little man got really sick and had an unknown cause and an unknown cure. So what do we as humans start to do....start to pray. To whom...Jesus the Lord to help us through this tough time. When in fact I had no idea if he even knew my name anymore or perhaps would even listen to me. Somehow our little Bronx pulled through and to this day I truly believe it was a miracle from the Lord, which then brought myself closer to Jesus and understood for SURE that there was a higher power out there and no human being could ever do anything themselves. Bronx was sick for a reason and I think it was a way the Lord was tapping me on the shoulder saying, "this is your time to come back." And without any hesitation I heard him loud and clear!

"Our way to Faith"

Well while we were in the hospital my dad was taking care of Lunden for a couple of weeks, yes just the two of them, he decided to take Lunden to church. He knew there were a couple of churches down the street from our house so they popped into one. He thought it was the Catholic Church, but he ended up going to Newspring, which is a non-denominational church. Lunden and him were a little late so they sat in the balcony section and listened to the band play before Pastor Mark started his lecture. Now if you know my dad he is a die hard Catholic. He couldn't believe what a great message Pastor Mark gave that day, he said it was all about family. When he came to the hospital that day to visit he said we should really check it out and that Lunden loved it. They got to church to late to check Lunden into Kidzworld, but next time we should really give it a whirl.

The Sunday we got out of the hospital we decided to try it out and low and behold Nick and I loved it. The message was great and are always great, the kidzworld for kids is amazing and they learn so much every Sunday, the band is phenomenal, and there is nothing like a great coffee shop offering wonderful treats before you enter the service into the comfy theater seating. And you actually get to sit through the whole lecture and get to pay attention to the service, every WORD because your kids are in kidzworld.

Why isn't every church like this? Why don't all churches focus on the kids? They main reason I love this church is because they are totally against RELIGION and believes it has corrupted our world. Which I totally agree with. They are totally focused on Jesus, the Lord and how strong a person's Faith is based totally upon the BIBLE. I used to believe we as people needed to try to get better in our daily lives and God will than accept us. I don't believe this anymore. God loves us unconditionally and it is not for us to judge others as they have done wrong. I have so many friends that are such hypocrites when it comes to their Religion and what they believe. If they or you are a true Christian than you should walk the walk and not just talk the talk with the Lord. Treat people as you would like to be treated and accept everyone for who they are. The Bible is not a book to learn about Religion it is a book to learn about Jesus, or perhaps Dr. Jesus. He has all the time in the world for us. Do you know who is engineering what is happening in your life? It's not Religion or your church it's Dr. Jesus himself. He knows every step you have made, are about to make, or will make.

God wants a big family! You may hate God, but there is nothing you can do about it because he loves you unconditionally! If you are in the Wichita area and have the chance you should really experience Judgement House. This is awesome and life changing. It is a 59 minute skit focused on four different lives and what takes place 59 minutes before each one of them die unexpectedly as well as what takes place after they have passed away. It is for all ages 6 and older and I truly believe it will open your eyes and you will think about every move you make, who you have talked to, how you say good-bye to your family members before you walk out that door each day and how you treat your family members all wrapped up in the final 59 minutes of your life.

As you have read this blog I am sure you have many thoughts for or against my personal thoughts. But one thing I will leave with you.......if you were to die 59 minutes from reading this blog WHERE WOULD YOU BE? AND WHAT DID YOU DO OR HOW HAVE YOU ACTED IN THE PAST 59 MINUTES?

Random Daily Thought

2011-10-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

Life has gotten pretty crazy lately and I love every minute of it! I officially put all three boys to bed tonight. Starting with Bronx after many kisses and hugs, Lunden after a dozen books were read, and Nick falling asleep on the living room floor watching of course, baseball. After I have tucked everyone in, took a shower and sat down for the first time today I realized I am a pretty lucky girl no matter how tired I may be and how huge my tummy may be getting these days. My doctor appointment went great today, only five weeks left and feeling great. Still working out everyday, but definitely not running any marathons!

I still have so much to do, if only I could get the boys to leave the house for a straight 48 hours I could get some major organizing and cleaning done. But we all know that is not going to happen so here I sit planning out tomorrows agenda: pre-school, parent observation day, cleaning, cooking dinner, swim lessons, oh and of course playing outside (because the weather has been gorgeous!!!!).

After the boys and I worked out today Grammy was waiting at our house to take care of the boys while I went to the doctor and ran a few quick errands. They love Grammy time! While I was grocery shopping through Target I saw a little boy with his mom and grandma in Starbucks enjoying a fresh cup of coffee and chatting away. I thought to myself wouldn't that be nice if Bronx really sat as still as that little boy to enjoy a cup of coffee in Starbucks. Anyone that knows Bronx knows that is not happening. Our shopping trips are adventurous and fast and always a trip to the toy aisle to keep him occupied while I finish my shopping.

I grabbed my shopping cart and proceeded to check off my list of groceries from aisle to aisle when approximately 15 minutes later the mom and grandma came cruising around the corner with their little man in their shopping cart all while carrying their remaining cups of coffee. We smiled at each other and went on our marry way, until a couple of aisles later I ran into them again and the little boy was having an all out melt down. I could have written this book myself.....seriously who takes time to chat over coffee in Starbucks before shopping with a one year old. I felt bad for the little boy because I knew it was totally his moms fault that A)he was ready to go home or B) he was tired or hungry. I truly think kids don't have tempertanrums or meltdowns in the store unless it is somewhat our/parents faults. As they passed by me a third time I smiled and acted like it was no big deal, because how annoying is it when someone gives you free unwanted advice in the store? They passed me again looking at my huge belly and I know what they were thinking......"she has no idea what she is getting into." But if only they knew I had two more little boys at home, its times like this when I wished I had had both of the boys with me.

Which leads me to my next point.....I have been given many strange looks lately in the store when I am out and about and have been given some unwanted advice/comments from people I know and people I don't know.

Here is the biggest comment I get when I have both boys with me (Lunden 3 and Bronx 1) along with a huge belly seen by all: Oh my you are going to have your hands full aren't you? or Wow was this pregnancy planned? How are you going to do it with three kids under three? I usually just giggle and go on with my day with some funny crazy comment. But what I really want to say is, "Yes it was a planned pregnancy, and yes there are only a few of us in this world that are made out to be great moms with lots of children and can handle the day to day craziness, I am sorry you are not one of them." I know that is not appropriate so I use my personal filter, but gosh darn it, keep your comments to yourself and think before you talk people! Maybe some of us actually like having big families...

I love my boys to death and would do anything for my family! I now see why families have four, five, or six kids. Family is fun, adventurous, so unpredictable and one of the best things anyone could ever ask for! I have an unbelievable husband that helps every second he can that the boys absolutely adore!

So I challenge you to make sure you use your filter when you are out and about and challenge yourself to look at the good side of a situation. God has blessed each of us in a different way, I am just the lucky one with a growing family!

Better than Facebook.....

2011-10-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks I have had a hard time watching TV or reading at night after the boys go to bed. My friend, Molly, introduced me to Pinterest. I can't believe I had never heard of it before and no one had ever mentioned it to me. It is one of the coolest sites for a mom or perhaps anyone that needs creative ideas. Ideas for cooking, baking, projects for the kiddos, fashion ideas, home decorating ideas, photography ideas, the list goes on and on. The best part is you can connect with other friends to see what they have found and add them to your own pinboard so you can save it for a later date when you might need a new idea for an occasion or perhaps just a slow day at home.

Lunden and I did this fun Q & A game today while Bronx took his afternoon nap. I asked Lunden a bunch of questions to see how in the world he would respond. You never can tell how a three year old is going to respond....

Favorite Color: Blue

Food Food: Bananas

Favorite Sport: Yankees

Favorite TV cartoon: watching airplanes on any channel

Favorite thing to do in school: play Lego trains with Lad

Favorite Toy: airplanes

When you grow up what do you want to be: a shark

Favorite Movie: Polar Express because it has a big black train

Favorite Snack: peanuts

Who is your Best Friend: Wyatt

Favorite Place to go: Chuckee Cheese (only grandma and grandpa take him here)

Favorite thing to do with daddy: play trains

Favorite thing to do with mom: play games on your phone

Favorite thing to do with Bronx: read books

Favorite game to play outside: football

Favorite treat: candy corn and nuts (but not mixed together)

Favorite shoes: tennis shoes

Favorite month: August because its my birthday (I was impressed he knew this)

Favorite day: Monday just because

Favorite car: Dad's Mocha truck

Here is a really cool project my friend Molly made from Pinterest. I thought this was so neat. She built a huge chalk board on their back yard fence for her daughter. The kids loved it!

Here is my own creation, which I am sure is not a new creation. Lunden loves to paint on his easel daily! We paint a lot of pictures and I just hate to throw all of his great art projects away. So instead I let them all dry because I am pretty sure he uses as much paint as possible on each piece of paper. Then when we have a party to go to I wrap birthday presents in his art work. They turn out great and people always ask where I found the cool paper. Maybe I should make a business out of Lunden's art work???

Stay tuned for some more fun projects! The holidays are right around the corner and you all know how much I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Difference from one year to the next....

2011-09-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

It is hard to think how this year is so much different then last year at this very moment. As I am watching all of the new prime time shows rolls out on all the networks, feel the air start to cool, pumpkins and fall appearing in every store I have entered in the past week I realize I didn't get to enjoy any of this last year. Last year at this time Nick and I were living in the hospital for two months with our sick little man Bronx. I didn't realize how many things we missed out on in 60 days this time of year, ALOT! I am so thankful that everyone in my little family bubble is healthy, happy, and full of joy. I couldn't be anymore blessed. But will never forget about the little things that people take for granted when they have never had a sick child before. Life can change pretty quickly in a matter of moments.

My two, soon to be three, little boys are the absolute joy of my life. Every moment of everyday is so unpredictable I don't even know where to start......here are just a few fun moments the boys have had in the past couple weeks!

Lunden's first dentist appointment, oh boy more on this later! They say to bring your kiddos to the dentist for the first time at three....I would advise to bring them much earlier!

Lunden and his buddies Mason and Tripp at the State Fair after they all just had to get their faces painted. What is it with face paint and little boys? I have no idea, but Lunden always insists on getting a pirate face so he looks like Jake from Jake and the Netherland Pirates.

The boys sitting in a huge tractor tire. These city boys were so excited to check out the tractors!

This past weekend I took the boys to Art and Autumn. Lunden did art projects for over an hour. He loves anything to do with glue, scissors, clay, scotch tape, oh who am I kidding he loves anything that is messy!

Lunden has taught Bronx how to use water paints. This is one of their favorite afternoon activities together!

Lunden is the best shopping partner I could ask for! If only he could drive there himself!

The first day of pre-school was a success. Since he went last year two days a week he acted like he owned the school! He is a big timer this year going three days a week. We have only had one little incident this year so far......he got caught peeing off of the sandbox during recess. Oh boy he is totally potty trained but apparently we gave him a little to much freedom at the park this summer and in our back yard by the pool, oops! I will take the fifth on this one!

Lunden now thinks we need stools in front of every bathroom sink in our house so he can get a drink whenever he feels like it. If only Bronx wouldn't watch every move Lunden makes we might just be able to accommodate him. But for now its just not happenin'!

Pretty sure they are the best buds!

Priceless....this is the new way Bronx likes to shop! When he is tired, he is tired even with Lunden squeaking the horn one thousand times through out the store he still doesn't wake up!

So like I said these might just be a few small adventures we have taken and not mean a lot to an average person, but to me they mean the world. Anytime I get to spend time with my boys and enjoy little daily adventures I get a smile on my face thinking how lucky I am to have a healthy family knowing where I was just 365 days ago.....

The Number 3

2011-08-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

This week I turned 30, yes the big 3-0! Pretty sure I was the last of all of my friends and am totally fine with that! But I did also realize this is the year to be surrounded by three's in my every day life. I am a huge numbers person and for some reason have thought about the number 30 for the past couple months. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to give up the number 29, it sounds oh so young! But ready or not the big 30 came and decided to stay, at least for the next 365 days!

Let me tell you what I mean when I talk about 3's surrounding me. Lunden turned 3 this month, Bronx had surgery to remove his 3rd thumb, I am almost 30 weeks pregnant, I will have 3 little boys under the age of 3 by Thanksgiving, I will be married 6 years in a couple of months, which divided by two equals 3, my husband turns 33 on his next Birthday, and the best surprise of the whole week was my parents who drove down from MN for my 30th Birthday, will be married 33 years this year!

As my husband and I were out to dinner I realized I am officially surrounded by threes this year. Hmmmm, interesting what does that mean? So I did a little research and this is what I found.

In the Christian faith tradition, the number 3, symbolized by the Trinity (Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer), has come to mean wholeness.
The 3 attributes of God are omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. It is said that the number 3 is used 523 times in Scripture!
3 wise man came to Jesus bearing 3 gifts-gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Jesus spread the gospel for 3 years, according to the Gospel of John.
Jesus raised 3 people from the dead- Luke, Jairus, and Lazarus of Bethany
Jonah was in the belly of the whale for 3 days and 3 nights
Jesus rose from the dead after being in the tomb for 3 days and 3 nights
The 3 divisions of time-past, present, and future.
The 3 persons in grammar- me, myself and I.
The sum of all human ability is threefold- thoughts, word, and deed.
The 3 kingdoms of matter- animal, vegetable, or mineral.
Only 3 primary colors are needed to mix most any color-red, yellow, and blue.
Earth is the 3rd planet from the sun.
3 lines are necessary to form a planar figure and 3 dimensions are required to form a solid.
There are 3 steps listed in Acts 2:38 in the Bible that lead to salvation: Repentance, Baptism, and God will fill you with the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual Meaning of the number 3:

The spiritual meaning of the number 3 deals with magic, intuition, fecundity, and advantage. The number 3 invokes expression, versatility, and pure joy of creativity. Three is also a timeidentifier as it represents Past, Present and Future. Consecutive Threes in your life may symbolize the need to express yourself creatively, or consider your present directional path in relation to past events and future goals. Three may also represent promising new adventures, and assurance of cooperation from others whom you may require help. Three typically symbolizes reward and success in most undertakings.

Do I think all of these amazing events are ironic or coincidental? Both, I totally believe God

has planted 3's around me in this time of my life to make me pay attention and to take

notice of people and experiences that occur around me, especially in the next year. I truly

believe the number three represents something divine in my life! It sure makes a person think!

What numbers are surrounding you this year?

Busted in the same spot!

2011-08-10T19:06:00.000-07:00

Apparently my cupboards are really easy to get into for little people walking around my kitchen. Two years ago Lunden accomplished dumping out an entire box of mini vanilla wafers while I turned my back for one second!

Two years later almost to the day Bronx accomplished the same thing, he just decided to choose Teddy Grahams. What are the chances they dump out snacks from the kitchen in the exact same spot in my kitchen? I have a feeling this is not going to be the only mischief they both share!

The funny thing about the pictures is, Lunden laughs and fesses up to what he has done, and then of course uses his great manners and apologizes. Bronx on the other hand doesn't even stop to look up at me and just keeps eating even though he is caught red handed. Go figure! Life is going to be very interesting when they are 17 and 15 years old!

Summer Birthdays

2011-08-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here in my fruit pj's (more on those later), listening to the rain and 70 mile hour winds bang against the house. Thinking about how my life has changed in the past three years and how I love every second of it. Bronx has officially turned one and is a mad-man with a fire-pistol, mischievousness personality and Lunden turns three tomorrow one of the sweetest little boys you will meet with the biggest heart! And to think come Christmas we will have three little boys under this roof all under the age of three! It's still hard to think we will have another little boy running around since I barely feel pregnant. Yes, I have gained weight and my tummy is getting big and round, but other than feeling the little man move I don't feel pregnant. This time around God must of known I already had two little ones to chase around and decided to bless me with an easy pregnancy.

The past five weeks we have been a traveling group, or should I say the boys and I have enjoyed our summer and NO school while Daddy has been hard at work! The lake for two weeks, back in Kansas for less than a week for Little Scientist Camp, and then a wonderful cool trip to Minnesota with the boys! It's amazing how five weeks fly by especially in the summer. The long days enjoyed outside, the great weather, lots of swim time, no television, very little blogging, lots of reading, and fabulous work outs every morning. But our fun is about to come to an end being that school starts in three weeks for my Lunden man.

I know it is close to the end of summer when the birthdays start to roll around. End of July for Bronx and beginning of August for Lunden. It's amazing little Mr. Bronx made it through his first little year. He is stronger than ever, eating like a champ, and walking/running full time. He has a heart of gold, and is so cuddly with the chubbiest cheeks in the whole wide world along with a head full of curly fries! His little curls are defiantly his trade mark, and here in Kansas the humidity defines each curl to perfection.

It's amazing how Lunden can be such a great big brother. He has become so protective of Bronx already at the age of three. He is the best role model Bronx could ever ask for with his smart little comments, witty little one liners, heart of gold, and has such an old soul just like his daddy! He is my little blondie that loves the outdoors and loves the chance to be with his friends and family at all times. His laugh is contagious and his hugs and kisses are continuous! To think he will be three tomorrow is crazy!

Happy Birthday to my two little favorite people!

Love MOM

Busted

2011-07-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

This week has been an interesting week with the heat index in the 110's everyday! Lots of pool and air conditioning time!!! After our 10 day stay at the lake, Lunden actually had to go to school this past week. Yes, he got to go to Little Scientist Camp all week long. Kind of a nice break for me, and he had a blast. Up early every morning, ready for school at the crack of dawn. Since school is exactly 2.1 miles from our house I decided to run Lunden to school every morning since I was going to miss my daily work out with Strollerfit. By the end of the week I was exhausted to say the least since running at 8:00 in the morning still doesn't beat the Kansas heat at 85 degrees at the start of the run and much higher by the time we get home.

So Wednesday I decided to head to the grocery store at 7:30 in the morning to get snacks for Lunden's class. As we were pulling into the driveway to unload the cold groceries I thought really hard if I should get the boys out of the nice cool car and into the stroller for our morning run to school. As I left the car running and boys buckled in their car seats I finished unloading the groceries, grabbed Lunden's back pack and was ready to head to Starbucks. All until a little voice from the back seat of the car asked where the stroller was and why he wasn't in it. Ummm, I really couldn't answer that. Lunden loves to run fast in the stroller and be dropped off at school in it. Why, I have no idea.

So here I was feeling guilty sitting in my air conditioned car. Oh man, all right let me get my tennis shoes and running shorts on and we will load up in the stroller. I can't believe I was totally busted by my two year old. I had totally decided I was going to skip my run that day and head to Starbucks! Didn't quite go my way. But I will tell you it felt great once we got home and by the end of the week we finished 20 miles all while pushing the two munchkins, 6 months prego! Leave it to Lunden to really call me out and get my butt into gear! Thanks buddy for making Mommy finish the week out with my daily work out!

The Life of a 2 1/2 year old!

2011-07-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

The past 30 days Lunden has pretty much had quite the life of a 2 1/2 year old. As I was downloading pictures from my phone today I couldn't believe all the things he has done, to all of the guests he has entertained in our home. For three weeks straight we had family and friends stay with us through out the month of June and July. He loved every minute of the extra attention.

To start the 30 day adventure Grandma and Grandpa E. had bought the boys Thomas the Train tickets a few months back to be sure we were all able to go! Lunden loved every minute of it. He is absolutely obsessed with trains so it was perfect for him and Bronx.

All Aboard!

The remaining first week of the past 30 days we had the pleasure of hosting Brett Swedberg, a professional golfer from my high school, his wife (Seneca) and his caddy (Kyle Lee) for the entire week while he played in the Nation Wide Tour tournament here in Wichita. We had a great time and it was so nice to have people around during the day to have an adult conversation with! Lunden still asks where Uncle Kyle is?

The second week Aunt Tasha flew into town from Green Bay to visit the boys! We took her to our lake condo and pretty much swam, swam, swam the entire time she was here. She was insistent on getting a great tan since she now is a big wig Civil Engineer and sits in her office all day long. We kept her really busy, or should I say the boys did! She was a huge help and helped make great dinners!

The third week Aunt Mimi came from North Carolina to see the boys. Two aunts in two weeks, talk about being spoiled! I am not sure who got more tired out Mimi or the boys? We are very excited for Aunt Mimi because her and Sam are expecting their first little baby this January, so it was great practice for her to be alone with the boys, or perhaps they may have scared her! We sure miss her help!

By this time we were ready to be a family again and headed to the lake just the four of us for the 4th of July! On our way out of town we just happened to see Grandpa and Grandma E. heading to their lake place as well. They stopped to say hi while we were filling up gas and gave Lunden a $20 bill to buy fireworks. (Just another little fun activity for the little man) It was so funny he held on to the $20 the entire way to the lake and even woke up in the morning looking for it. He was so proud of it and couldn't wait to buy fireworks! Here is Lunden and Dad filling up their basket!

Then after the 4th of July, the boys and I decided to stay at the lake a few more days. Lunden was missing his best friend Wyatt so we invited them to come down for a couple of days. Boy did they have fun!

Perhaps a little too much fun! (This will be a great picture come graduation time, especially if they go to the same college, heheh!)

Not that Lunden hasn't already had tons of fun and the best of friends and family to share it with these past 30 days, but here are a few of his favorite things to do at the lake. Throw rocks from the shore line...for hours upon hours!

He loves to check out the boats through the binoculars, or perhaps the pretty ladies in their bikinis on the yachts that cruise by!

And of course relax in Mom and Dad's room at the end of every day to soak in what the day has just blessed him with! Talk about a LIFE!

We have pretty much determined how Bronx really feels about the past 30 days! I think he is just exhausted as his brother!

Lunden falling asleep while getting a hair cut!

2011-06-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

I think this is so funny! Lunden had a really busy day last Saturday and had an afternoon hair cut. Needless to say the 100 degree weather got the best of him! He slept through his entire hair cut. Good thing the kid has had a hair cut every 3-4 weeks since he was 10 months old!

Pink or Blue.....

2011-06-26T17:09:00.001-07:00

Well, here is the question we have been pondering about for the past 19 weeks! Come November Nick and I will officially go from one-on-one defense to zone defense! Little munchkin number three is due in November! Bronx will officially be a big brother, crazy I know! Baby #3 is due November 23rd, and if this little munchkin comes like the first two he or she will come on the exact due date! All I ask is someone brings a home-made Thanksgiving dinner up to the hospital. After living in the hospital for two months with Bronx I am not sure I can even stand the smell of hospital food little alone see it on a tray rack in the hallway.

It's amazing to think this coming Thanksgiving and Christmas we will be here in Kansas and will not have a Minnesota Holiday! I am totally going to admit I am pretty sad, there is nothing like a Minnesota Christmas with all the family and tons of snow! And best of all, all of the family is together under one roof. I know Nick is pretty bummed there will be no ice fishing this Christmas....maybe, just maybe our family will come and visit us!

On the other hand I am so excited to have a baby this winter. Snuggled in by the fire all day long while the boys play like crazy in the man-cave. Lunden was born in August and Bronx was born in July. Super hot pregnancies! Not to mention I have been pregnant 3 out of the last 4 summers, this mamma deserves a cocktail! Come the end of November of this year I will have been pregnant 27 out of the last 43 months. That is crazy!!! Thanksgiving 2011 we will have a three year old, a 16 month old and a new born! Three car seats in the back seat, a triple jogging stroller on order, and lots of diapers! And the crazier thing I wouldn't change a thing.

So what do you think we are having? A boy or a girl? The first two pregnancies I was pretty sick the first 12 weeks. This pregnancy I don't even feel pregnant, I have energy and have been running almost every day. The last ten days the boys and I have put in 28 miles with the jogging stroller, gotta love the BOB!

Tomorrow is the day! We will know by tomorrow afternoon if we are having Prince or a Princess, pink or blue!

Two Extra Hours

2011-05-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

Today was a bittersweet day for our family! We were finally traveling all together the four of us for the first time in a long time. Nick has been on the road traveling a lot the past couple of months so it was so nice to all be together. We got up early and excited for Bronx's appointment in Kansas City, today was the big day....he got his cast off of his little hand. His extra digit a.k.a. ole lucky was gone! It looks great a little swollen and red but to be expected. He is a little aprehensive to use it but I am sure he will come around, or he may just become a lefty like his daddy and big brother.

Once we were done we had decided to drive to our lake condo in Oklahoma from Kansas City for Memorial weekend, I totally forgot we would be driving right through Joplin, MO. We knew a fellow franchisee for Freddy's got hit really hard and we wanted to see the damage so we drove through town to take a peak. WOW, did we see way more than we ever thought we would see. Talk about the emotions pouring out of our bodies. It took us an hour to get through town to see the Freddy's and another hour to get back on the freeway, round-trip it should have taken us about 15 minutes max. But the crazy thing was there was no complaining, barely a word said in our SUV, I am sure under regular circumstances both Nick and I would have been very frustrated and irritated being that we had already driven in the car a total of 5 hours today and still had another hour to go. Our little trip turned into an extra two hour adventure that was totally unplanned but absolutely no complaining what so ever. It was extremely eye opening the scenes we came across and very surreal.

Families, emergency help, and volunteers were still looking for loved ones as we drove past. Tents were set up all over with water and food that had been donated. FEMA had a huge tent for all of the victims. There were so many people and volunteers from all over the United States, pretty amazing.

As we were driving back towards the freeway Nick turned to me and asked, "Do you ever wonder why God would ever do such a devasting thing to a community." As a matter of fact I think about this quit frequently. Is it because he is trying to bring the world back together in some form or fashion because he is so upset how RELIGION has torn our world/country apart? Is he trying to make some sort of a point? When the huge flood came he promised that would never happen again.....so instead of one big huge world casatrohphe he just sends little messages like a massive tornado, or a hurricane, or an earthquake telling us to get our acts together? I don't know, some day I will know because I will be in heaven but until then I can only assume what his actions are trying to tell us.

This was a Burger King, the only thing left standing was the playground.

Nothing left....

Total Devastation...

Can you imagine.....

your life changes in a second.......

Freddy's destroyed, but don't worry they will come back strong....

Prayers....

When is the last time you prayed......

Shopping

2011-05-24T20:17:00.001-07:00

I realized the other day I have been to the grocery store twice (two times) in the past two years by myself. Yes thats right twice. I bring these two little guys every where and you know what they are really good shoppers! Many of my MOM friends have told me that they refuse to shop with their kids. I am not sure I totally agree with this method, but to each his own. I am a big believer in emerging your kids in daily activities to work on manners, and good listening habits. Start them out early and you would be surprised how behaved they can be in a store. It's amazing how much a two year old can learn at the grocery store. I always choose to go in the morning after our work-outs since no one is really out shopping at that time of day.

I went by myself last week to pick up a couple things at the grocery store while Lunden and Bronx were with Grandma and Grandpa E. I will have to say it was so weird! I got done shopping in twenty minutes, which usually would have taken me at least an hour.

Do you know what it takes to shop with two little munchkins by myself?

1) Pack the appropiate gear in my purse/diaper bag.

2) Unbuckle both boys from their car seats.

3) Make sure to grab my usable cloth bags to put my groceries in.

4) Make sure to grab Bronx's seat cover to put in the shopping cart, I am a total germ monster.

5)While carrying all of our gear plus Bronx, Lunden is hanging on to my purse begging for the cart with the car attached to the front. No problem buddy it's all yours!

6) Dis-infect the attached car with wipes, get Bronx settled in the front of the cart after I have put the cover on the seat. Throw the grocery bags in the cart along with the diaper bag. Oh will there be any room left for the groceries?

7) And we are off!

But you know what, I wouldn't change it for the world. Lunden looks forward picking out all of the vegetables and fruit. I taught him how to walk next to me while we are in the grocery store. He is such a good shopper! Once we are out of the produce section he jumps into the car and we head to the deli where he nibbles on some turkey. Next stop the bakery, free cookies for all kiddos! Which pretty much guarantees we will make it through the rest of the store. He picks out his yogurt, popsicles, eggs, juice, and any other necessary food that may be required for the week. And always a quick stop at the toy aisle to end the trip!

Oh and then once we are done shopping the trip to the car is always an adventure with all the bags stacked up in the cart. That is why I always do my grocery shopping at Dillons, they always have someone that can help me out to my car.

Sam's Club has the best shopping carts, they fit two munchkins side by side which allows for lots of fun items to fill the cart! Lunden insists on sitting next to Bronx. But what he really insists on is going to Sam's Club on Thursdays to sample all of the good food they have for their customers. It is so funny how excited he gets!

And then there are shopping trips like this! A tired out little boy from a big day of pre-school. Side Note: Bronx is always awake when we are shopping, the kid would never miss a possible party!

5K race

2011-05-23T19:47:00.000-07:00

This past week Nick was traveling and this mamma was solo mission with my two favorite boys! We were so busy that I totally forgot to blog. The boys and I did a short 5K race last Sunday to support a little girl that has Leukemia here in Wichita. She is the cutest little thing and is doing great as of right now. But I will say there is something about running a race for a good cause that helps a person run just a little faster and put aside the pain and tiredness. There were over 200 runners, the boys and I did great! It was so cool seeing all the moms with our big strollers end

up at the front of the race. It's amazing what great shape we are all really in. We were passing by runners left and right with our big ole' strollers pushing an extra 50-60 pounds. Now thats what I call a real race!

The boys and I pre-race all ready to go!
After the race there were so many fun things for the kiddos! Lunden got his face painted like a pirate and also got to paint his own canvas painting.
My little pirate!
My little race partners! We will definitely do the race again next year!

The Pledge of Allegiance

2011-05-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

About a month ago Lunden and I were jumping on the trampoline in the back yard while Bronx was napping. Lunden looked over at the neighbor's American flag that was hanging on the side of their house waving in the wind and busted out the entire Pledge of Allegiance. I had no idea that he knew the Pledge of Allegiance. Apparently I have not paid very close attention to his classroom calendar. I had no idea they even said the Pledge of Allegiance everyday in pre-school before they start the day. I have to say I was pretty impressed! Take a peak for your self!

Extra Digit

2011-05-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

Holy Tamale it has been forever since I posted a blog, probably the longest stretch since I started this blog almost three years ago. Lots has been going on under this roof in the past 30 or so days. Our Internet has been going crazy ever since we got our iphones two months ago, well we finally figured out the problem this morning and we are good to go! Enough driving to Panera Bread every morning to get my emails loaded and time to catch up on my blogging as well as reading other blogs!

Last week, Bronx had surgery in Kansas City at Children's Mercy Hospital. Hopefully the last for a very long time. For those of you that don't know Bronx was born with six fingers on his right hand, he had two thumbs (medically known as Polydactyly or an extra digit). One in 500 babies is born with an extra digit. I was totally freaked out at first when I realized it when he was born thinking I had done something wrong while I was pregnant. Only to find out I had nothing to do with it and it was all genetics and God playing a role in the creation of his little hand. His little hand is one of the cutest things I have ever seen and has really grown on me, though we all know how mean kids can be when Bronx gets older so we opted to take it off at an early age. Nick and I called his extra thumb 'Ole Lucky!

Nick and I researched pediatric doctors all over the country only to find one three hours north of where we live. Dr. John Rast is a pediatric general surgeon as well as a plastic surgeon who has specialized in hand surgery, bingo! We found our guy! Bronx was supposed to have surgery when he was six months old but because of his condition at the time they wanted to wait a little longer. He did great last week and has the cutest little cast on his hand. We made sure it was blue, because that that is Lunden's favorite color and the top half had little cars wrapped around it. Which of course Lunden thought was pretty cool!

The night before surgery, you can see his double thumb for one of the very last times!

He is doing great, but still has a little road ahead of him. He will have pain for the next 10-12 days. Some hours of the day he is crazy as ever and crawls and walks around everything and then there are hours of the day where he just wants to be held and rocked once the pain medicine wears off. All in all he is doing great and will only have his cast on for three weeks.

All prepped for surgery, it's 2:00 and he hasn't had anything to eat since 6am! His little tummy was growling so daddy took him for a walk.

Even though this surgery was considered a minor surgery, being in that surgery waiting room brought back way too many emotional memories of the first four months of Bronx's life. I will say I truly believe this little guy has a huge reason for being on this earth and will always be one of the strongest human beings I will ever know. It is amazing what these little guys can go through at such an early age and bounce back like nothing ever happened. Only to look back at pictures or past blogs and every emotion comes back from that exact moment.

Still waiting for surgery, he loved playing with Buzz because brother always takes if from him. We also blew a ton of bubbles which pretty much saved the two hour wait we had once we were prepped before surgery.

The drive on the way home, check out his little cast so darn cute! I even talked the doctor into leaving his little gown on for the ride home since it was so hot and none of his shirts would fit over his little cast! He looked so cute even though he was heavily medicated.

Thanks for all of the prayers and warm thoughts that were and have been sent Bronx's way!

SPRING BREAK!

2011-03-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

Mr. Lunden is officially on spring break this week from pre-school and swimming. Oh but don't worry when he asked to go to Cabo with his friends we compromised and decided to meet Grandma and Grandpa B. down in Florida last week. Which ended up being a week before his spring break so needless to say he is on spring break this week as well! And thank goodness it has been in the high 70s the past couple of days because once he got a little taste of being outside every day in Florida last week I wasn't sure how I was going to explain the chilly days once we got home. I think we officially brought the warm air with us!

The trip went great, the boys travel really well and always have. They are little rock stars on plane rides and barely a peep with car rides. I guess all the traveling early while they were babies has paid off. Once we arrived in Fort Myers Grandma and Grandpa B. were waiting with open arms. Lunden was so confused, the minute we landed he yelled out really loud, "We are in Minnesota to see Grandma and Grandpa." Of course we got some funny stares since of course we were in Florida. The weather was absolutely beautiful the entire time we were there. I can't remember a time I went to Florida and it didn't rain at least a day while we were on vacation.

Our only set back was the time change with day light savings as well as another added hour into another time zone. So we were having a tough time with the boys sleeping patterns with a two hour time difference. By the end of the week we figured it out and then of course it was time to go home.

The first day we were there Lunden, Grandpa B., and Nick drove to Tampa to watch the Twins vs. Yankees. Of course Grandpa B. was decked out in his Twins gear and Nick and Lunden had their Yankee hats and jerseys on ready to go. They had a blast even though the Twins kicked the Yankees booties, don't tell Bronx he would be crushed.

This was just the start of Lunden's food extravaganza....by the end of the game he had had a pretzel, a bag of peanuts, ice cream, a foot long hot dog, a lemonade, and cotton candy. And not to mention they stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home for a slurpee because they were to thirsty from all the munchies...no wonder he had a tummy ache that night.

While they were at the game Bronx, Grandma B. and I went to the shrimp festival on the beach, yummy is in understatement! We ate fresh seafood right from the ocean! Bronx of course loved the ice cream we had for dessert.
For the next five days all we did was BEACH it! Morning, noon and night! We could not get Lunden off of the beach he loved every minute of it. In the mornings Grandma B. and Lunden would walk along the beach collecting shells and other random sea creatures. He loved the star fish they found one morning.

This picture along with the next couple pretty much sum up the rest of the trip....beach, beach, and more beach. It is the best entertainment for a two year old. Him and Grandpa B. built big sand castles every day.
Lunden enjoying the waves!
Lunden and I digging a huge hole around our castle.

Lunden carrying the 50th or so bucket filled with water for our hole we dug. He made so many trips!

Daddy and Lunden digging for sea shells while watching the dolphins on the beach.

Lunden is sitting in his hole he dug to cool off.

We were finally able to get Bronx out to the beach one day. Unfortunately he got Lunden's upper respiratory infection and we had to start him on antibiotics while we were on vacation. With Bronx you just N.E.V.E.R. know what will happen day to day. I had researched the closest children's hospital, walk-in clinic, along with the local pharmacy in case we needed anything. Which ended up being a good thing I did because Bronx had a tough couple of days. But once the antibiotics kicked in he was ready to rock and roll!

Every night our family took a walk on the beach to watch the sunset. Lunden insisted on having a huge blue cookie monster ice cream cone every night. The picture says it all!

Before we had gotten to Florida I called a baby rental equipment company to rent a beach jogging stroller, a high chair, as well as an exer-causer. It was an awesome deal, free delivery and pick up and it was there and ready for action when we arrived at the condo.

Grandma and Grandpa B. on the beach!

My little peanut!

Happy Spring Break!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa B. for a fun trip and lots of great memories!

Dinosaurs

2011-03-08T14:10:00.000-08:00

There are a few days each month that I can guarantee a little relaxing time, a couple hours of work or perhaps a day to run around Wichita and get all of my errands done without the boys. Grandma and Grandpa E. have taken the boys almost every Friday for the past couple of months. It is amazing to me how many of my friends have parents here in Wichita that take advantage of them on a daily basis some good some too much in my opinion!

I think Grandparents are supposed to be a great treat for a kid something fun to look forward to, someone who spoils them to pieces when mom and dad aren't looking and then sends them home at the end of the day when they possibly could be on a sugar high! Since I have had kids I have never had a set day that the boys were taken care of. It is so nice to have a little break 3 to 4 times a month. I think Nick maybe wishes sometimes it was Saturdays so we could have a day out together (we might have to switch it up one of these weeks).

This past weekend Grandma and Grandpa E. headed to the lake late Thursday night so we planned a family outing to the Wichita Garden Show on Sunday afternoon when they returned to see the Jurassic Park exhibit, especially since Lunden is obsessed with dinosaurs. It was so cool, but I will say this wouldn't have been as neat if we didn't have a little boy that was so pumped all weekend to go see the dinosaurs. You will only understand this if you have a little boy that loves dinosaurs!

Here is Lunden checking out the dinosaur tracks.....
Lunden could barley concentrate for a family picture because he was so obsessed with the Brontosaurus above him.
Don't worry Bronx knows pretty much all of the dinosaurs as well, he may not be able to talk yet, but Lunden has taught him all the names to each one!

Guppie #2

2011-03-07T18:06:00.000-08:00

We had been tossing around the idea of starting Bronx in swimming lessons for the past couple of months. Lunden started at six months, but of course did not have any medical conditions to worry about so it was an easy decision. With a happy, healthy Bronx on our hands we decided at seven months to start him in swimming lessons.

I am a true believer of starting your babies out in swimming as early as possible. It is incredible what they can learn at such an early age. I believe swimming is the only sport that could save your child's life. So last week was Bronx's first week of swimming lessons at the Wichita Swim Club, and he swam like a champ. Never once cried when he was dunked under water. Loved floating on his back and is an all out maniac on his tummy!

Bronx and Daddy ready to take the plunge.

Here is Lunden after his swim lesson giving Bronx his goggles to use and some last minute tips.

Bronx and Daddy swimming away!

How many seven months old use a kick board?

We are ready for summer....time to open the pool!

Seven Months....

2011-02-20T19:02:00.000-08:00

For some reason it is so much harder these days to sit down and write a post to my blog. Maybe it is the crazy two boys that never sleep at the same time, or perhaps the work I have stacked up, or maybe its because I have to have the house cleaned and picked up every morning and every night before I go to bed. Maybe thats why it's so hard to sit down and focus on my thoughts that have been floating around in my little head all week long.

This past week was of course Valentines week but more importantly Bronx was seven months old on the 17th. It's amazing our little miracle is doing so well and becoming stronger and stronger every day. And you gotta love the extra rolls in his little legs!

Extra rolls = healthy baby!

He eats a ton and is slowly weaning off all of his meds he is given six times a day. The best part of my day is his little smile/smirk. No matter if he was getting ready to go into surgery, getting a blood transfusion, hungry, or perhaps just flat tired he always has a smile. How many of us can say that we can still smile after a really hard day?

Bronx only has one more surgery to undergo in early May, which I will explain in more detail at a later date. But for now all I want to focus on is how well and healthy our little man is. On the 17th he crawled/scooted forward for the first time. And ever since then he has figured out how to get whatever he wants as long as it is in his line of sight. Watch out world here comes Bronx, or should I say watch out Lunden here comes little brother on your tail!

One comment I hear every single day is how much Bronx looks like Lunden. So I thought I would post a few pictures to show everyone how identical they really are. It is so much fun having two little boys especially seeing Lunden become so protective of his little brother and just love him to pieces, sometimes a little too much.

Here is Bronx last week, 7 months.

Here is Lunden at 7 months old.

Here is Lunden at 6 months, his very first Valentines.

Here is Bronx at 7 months, his very first Valentines, see the resemblance?

Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers littlest Franchisee! Gotta love the little belly, too many trips to Freddy's perhaps!

Shaving Cream Fun

2011-02-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

It's Valentines week and the temperature has been all over the board the past two weeks. 65 degrees, to -18 degrees, back up to 60 degrees today. So needless to say we have been very creative with the inside activities. I decided a fun activity would be to play with shaving cream, I have no idea why I thought of this. Sometimes when I am stuck inside for to many days in a row my mind starts to wander. It ended up being such a fun activity. If you have kiddos you will totally understand why Lunden loved playing in shaving cream. Lunden and I drew shapes, letters, numbers, we even made animals and train tracks. I kept Lunden in his pjs and then just stripped him down after. He actually smelled like a little old man when we were finished. And the best part, it just wiped off of the table.

Here is to all my lovely ladies out there!

Action Shot!

Bronx really wanted to get in on the action.

Row 50 on the 50......

2011-02-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

Go Pack Go.....I saw this huge Green Bay cookie at the grocery store this morning and it made me think of what a cool story my brother in law has about the Packers!

So here is a little blog shout out to my little sister and her wonderful cheesehead husband! They are absolutely die-hard Green Bay Packer fans everything from the clothes, to blankets, to dish ware! They have it all! After you read the cool family background of Eric and his family you will see why they are such dedicated fans!

Eric, Tasha's Husband, was born and raised in Green Bay his entire life, along with a lot of his family members. The love for the Packers started back in the early 50's when his Grandma and Grandpa bought two tickets on the 50 yard line at the Old City Stadium. Which is now know as the Green Bay East High School. His Grandpa's three brothers also bought tickets adjacent to him. When the Packers were looking for money for the stadium Eric's family owned a local chain of liquor stores, grocery stores, and drive-in's in which they held fundraisers and had donation jars at their stores to help out the Packers. All in all the Packers raised enough money and the stadium, Lambeau Field was built.

The tickets he held at the Old City Stadium were then transferred and they got first pick at their choice of seats at Lambeau Field, which they chose 50 yard line tickets. His brothers did the same and they still own most of row 50 at the 50 yard line. Eric's Grandpa was also in the local Jaycee's and helped organize the grand opening parade, which included Vice President Nixon and Miss America. When the stadium opened the Packers were not very good so nobody bought tickets. Grandpa being the smart business man he was and still is, bought 6 tickets on the 20 yard line. He said they were practically giving them away to help the team financially. Many people did this to help the team out.

Ever since Lombardi showed up the stadium has been sold out. A few years back Eric's Grandpa split the tickets up among the family and Eric's mom was given the 50 yard line tickets. So now Eric's mom has agreed to give the tickets to Eric and his lovely wife Tasha. (side note....Tasha used to be a huge VIKINGS fan since we are from MN, but ever since she left home and met her love of her life she has become a cheesehead!) I have to say I don't blame her!

Eric and his cousin have sat in those seats just about every home game from 1994-2000. And now Tasha has taken the place of Eric's cousin since 2006!

Odd Facts:

1.The man who built the stadium still sits in front of Tasha and Eric with his family every game.

2.All Eric's uncles were at the Ice Bowl

3.The Packers use to go to Eric's Grandpa's drive in after the games to eat, when Green Bay was a much small town.

Me, my little sister and my mom. Girls weekend tour of the stadium!

Good Luck Green Bay....this year could be the year!

(Won't mention any names but how bitter sweet would it be if Green Bay won this year....Favre)

Thanks Eric for helping me with your family background, what a COOL story to tell your kids someday, SUPER BOWL here we come!

Thought out Surprise...

2011-01-29T18:24:00.000-08:00

This past week I did something totally out of the ordinary and planned a little surprise for my hubby. He was in Las Vegas for a week long of meetings and deal-making! But he was also in Vegas for the 50th Anniversary of the Society of Exchange Counselors. On top of the 50th Anniversary there were also the annual awards given away for the group. Nick would never say anything about being recognized, though I knew the awards dinner was a bigger deal than he had talked about when he rented a tux. So of course my wheels started turning...

You are probably wondering what this group is all about...it is a very elite group of the nation’s premier creative real estate marketing organization. The worldwide members are leaders in creative real estate and experienced commercial and investment real estate brokers, counselors, developers, asset managers, financiers, investors, exchangors, consultants and educators. There are approximately 100 members in the world. My husband is to humble to ever say anything about this group, but it is a huge honor to be asked to become a member. I know he has worked very hard the past six years taking the steps needed to become a member of this group. So I decided I would surprise him and fly out to Vegas for the 50th Anniversary/Awards Banquet.

I had every little detail worked out, ticket bought secretly, Dolce & Gabana dress and shoes borrowed from a great friend (thanks Whitney), bags packed, boys dropped off at Grandma and Grandpa E.'s for a fun sleep over, and off I went. When I got to Vegas I knew he was eating dinner at Battista's Hole in the Wall Italian Restaurant, it is the restaurant we ate at the night we got engaged. So I thought it would be the perfect place to surprise him at. As I got to Vegas I grabbed a taxi, texted one of his good partners Chris to tell him I would be there in less than 10 minutes and was off to Battistas! As I walked in with my suitcase he was so surprised, deer in head lights look! It was PRICELESS! It should have been on video! He was so excited to see me! It was so much fun. I enjoyed great food, a little shopping, a wonderful awards banquet, and exquisite company! The best part is they messed up on his room the night he got there so he was upgraded to the 51st floor penthouse suite for the entire week, talk about perfect timing!

At the 50th/ Awards Dinner!

(Thanks Grandma and Grandpa E. for the wonderful bottle of champagne delivered to our room before the awards banquet)

Nick on the left and Brandon on the right, they both became members together along with three other individuals from across the country.

Awesome and very successful group of life long friends & business partners! Don't worry about the No Fumar! (no smoking) sign on the wall....anything goes in Vegas!

Congratulations Nick!

XOXO, Me & The Boys

Paint the Towne

2011-01-28T19:02:00.000-08:00

Last week I was invited by a few girls last minute to join in on some Friday night fun. Across the street from our house in a little fun place called Paint the Towne. It is a really cool place for people to go and paint a picture, drink wine (you bring your beverages of choice) and socialize. I call it paint by number, but it really isn't quit like that. There is a certain painting that is picked out for the evening that the instructor is going to paint and you then paint along with her. The fun part is you can choose your own colors, accents, and even add a little spice to it. I kind of compare it to my blog, it doesn't matter what I say or how I say it no one is judging it. Just like my painting. I will totally admit I was a little nervous going in, I am not artistic what so ever, or so I thought! I was truly going to enjoy some great conversation and of course a little vino!

It worked out perfect Nick was out of town on business, Lunden and Grandpa E. were at the Harlem Globetrotters with the guys, and Grandma E. was in charge of Bronx! So off I went to enjoy Paint the Towne with the ladies!

Here we are all with our pictures, the cool thing is we all started out with the same image in front of us and look what we all ended up painting. Not one of them turned out like another one. That is the cool thing about Paint the Towne! It's like a conversation, even though we all hear the same words coming out of someone's mouth, we all interpret the message just a little differently. I had so much fun watching everyone paint and enjoyed great conversation. It's amazing the true colors that come out in a person behind a little painting.

Lunden's Gift

2011-01-16T19:32:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas.....and actually I am pretty sad it is over. I put my Christmas trees, yes that is plural I have lots of trees, up usually the day after Halloween. And if it was up to me I would leave them up year round along with all of my Christmas decorations. I just love Christmas, and now Christmas is even more fun and meaningful with two little healthy, bubbly boys running around.

There was one thing this year that was just a little different than any other year. Our little family of four did not do gifts for each other, instead we gave to other families in need. We did small stocking stuffer gifts New Year's Day for each other. Which was plenty! Of course the boys still got spoiled by all the grandparents and aunts and uncles, oh and don't forget Santa Clause's special visit.

Although there was one gift that Lunden gave Nick and I that is probably one of the neatest gifts I have personally ever received. He made a calendar in pre-school for 2011. Each month has his little hand prints made into special fun art pictures with a little side story.

I know you wipe some away. But these handprints were made to stay. So keep them forever, a treasure they'll be. A special, " I Love You" for you from me!

Love, Lunden

I think this is one of the coolest ideas!

January is HERE:

Snowflake white are dancing down. Dancing, dancing all around. Each one is different, it's surely true. Here's one I made from me to YOU!

Now you can see why this was the best gift under out Christmas tree this year!

Thanks Lunden

February....will be here soon!

2011...Resolutions.....what do they really mean?

2011-01-07T19:07:00.001-08:00

New Year's Resolutions....well I can honestly say I have never ever made a resolution. Why..I am not sure. But this year is a little bit different. No I am not going to make a resolution on weight loss or eating better, I will never understand why people do that the first of the year. If you want to loose weight and feel better it is a life style change people, not just a January change. Alright, back to my point....this year is just a little different than any other year.

Stating the obvious, we are officially a family of four with two healthy little boys that I just love to pieces! I have realized once a person has kids your life truly changes forever. The way you think, walk, talk, and eat 24/7 for the rest of your life. Which I absolutely love!

"This year my challenge to myself and to you is to knock down personal grudges you may have with past friends or family members."

(What I mean by that is think of a family or friend that you may have had a dispute or negative outcome with through out your life time that if that person were to die tomorrow would you have wished you ended your last conversation or perhaps your actions differently? And keep in mind how the people around you feel about the individual and how you have acted?)

As you all know we spent a good part of last year in the hospital with little Bronx, whom is doing exceptionally well by the way. As I had a lot of time to think about life and how short it can actually be I realized so many people live with chips on their shoulders including myself in one way or another. Is is really worth it? I have come to the conclusion as my Faith is becoming stronger and stronger everyday that it is NOT. Not worth the time nor the effort it takes a person to avoid a subject or a person on a daily basis. Life is to short to know what could possibly happen in the next hour, minute, or perhaps second of every day.

So as I start 2011 I am on a mission to make sure my family and friends are my number one priority! I do not want tomorrow to be a day when I said.....I wish I had.....so if you are reading this and receive a random email from me it's because I truly care about our friendship as well as the people in your life.

Life is just to short to be miserable everyday... I know life isn't always fair but why not control something that is as easy as an email or phone call away to make life just a little easier?

Who can you think of...it's amazing what just one email or phone call could do? Wouldn't it feel good to be the one on the receiving end?

1-1-11

2011-01-01T10:03:00.001-08:00

What a cool date to start off the New Year! We are finally back from MN and had an awesome trip....which included a LOT of SNOW!!!! It made Christmas actually feel like Christmas this year.

Before we left for MN we had a great Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa E. to jump start the reason for the season. Great food, wine, company and some fun treasures for all. It actually started to feel like Christmas, I love cooking and entertaining for family and friends especially for a special event. It allows me to try out new and fun recipes!

Any how as our weekend came to an end we were slowly packing and getting ready for our trip to MN when the airlines left us an automated voice mail on my cell phone....."your flight has been cancelled for Monday evening and you will now be leaving Tuesday at 5:45am," keep in mind this is Sunday evening. There was a huge snow storm getting ready to hit MN so we called the airlines back and re-booked our tickets for Mon 5:45am flight....oh and it was 10pm Sunday night. I had barely packed! So the packing began, no sleep, washing clothes, downloading movies from itunes, and baths for the boys! We literally made it to MN with in three hours before the storm hit! We had a two hour drive up north from the airport which made it very interesting with all the snow, ice, and cars & semis in the ditch everywhere! Don't worry, close to four hours later we were at our destination safe and sound ready for the good cheer to begin! It defiantly felt like Christmas now!

Nick decided it would be fun to snow blow the drive way for my Dad! Ha, his first time ever using a snow blower, needless to say since he learned how to work it, it wasn't his only time he got to partake in this activity while we were there.

Nick also learned how to play broom ball. You can see Lunden on the ice with Grandma and Grandpa B. while she was referring her classes on the ice.

That night my parents took Nick, Lunden and myself to the train station to have dinner. Since Lunden loves trains it was so fun! Bronx got to stay home with Uncle Ben and Aunt Ashley.

The first thing Lunden said when they walked us up the stairs into the caboose to sit us at our table was, "All Aboard." It was hilarious! Then the waiter handed him his menu and he proceeds to tell everyone in the restaurant, "Oh look its the train schedule." Then before we left he had to find the emergency brake, he walked around the entire restaurant until he finally found something that looked like an emergency break and was at ease. Apparently he has had a little too much Polar Express in the past 30 days!

After a few days every one had arrived.......including a special guest one night! Santa Clause rang the doorbell and brought everyone fun treasures! Lunden was glued to him!
It is not very often the entire family was able to get a picture with Santa! Everyone in the family from Tennessee, to Kansas, to Wisconsin and Minnesota. We all traveled from afar to be together.
Uncle Eric pulling Lunden in the sled on the lake. Needless to say uncle Eric was exhausted after pulling Lunden for a couple of hours that afternoon! I think this is such a cool picture!
Lunden finally taking a break to make a snow angle.
Nick, Lunden, and Grandpa B. ice fishing in the spear house. Lunden really wanted to catch a shark.
Bronx smiling, he is one of the happiest babies I know!
One of the last days we were in Minnesota the weather was beautiful! It snowed almost every day we were there. I took Lunden outside to play one warm afternoon...well I tried at least until we got stuck in a snow bank!
Pit stop.....a little snow treat!
Grandma and Grandpa B. decorate the tree every year with big blue lights and huge balls and candy canes! I love this picture with Lunden looking up. The tree is so huge, I remember planting this tree when I was little. It's the little things in life.....
Lunden stole a candy cane off of the tree to try to pave a pathway through the snow.

Nick and I ice fishing, of course I had a Caribou coffee in hand! One of my favorite things about Minnesota.
In all of my years of living in Minnesota and spending time on the frozen lakes I have never ever seen a plane land on the frozen lake. He had a little trouble taking off since the snow was so deep I truly thought we were going to have to call for help.
My little sis and I..(I have a combination of clothes that I found in my parents closet and a few items my sister brought for me. The only thing that I could fit in my suit case was my head/ear warmer). Good thing my parents have accumulated a lot of winter clothes over the years!
& my little brother and I.
Eric and Ben waiting patiently for the fish, or perhaps talking life strategies. I figured out a lot of BS happens in this little toasty fish house.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our friends and family close and afar!

Cough, Sneezing, and Temperatures all around.....

2010-12-15T19:59:00.000-08:00

Hello blog....it's has been sometime since I have blogged. I see a pattern in my past three to four blogs, there has been way to long in between each blog. Life has gotten the better of my husband and I the past three months.

After Bronx got out of the hospital we were all a little on edge at all times of the day. The first weekend we were home Lunden had a Birthday party to attend. (I swear he gets invited to more parties than his parents.) Anyhow I left Bronx with Daddy and Lunden and I ventured to "My Gym" for his buddies Birthday Party. It was wonderful getting to mingle with friends that I had not seen in a few months. Everyone was having a great time until the last activity started, the bubble machine. Lunden loves bubbles as well as every other little two year old at the party. They all started dancing and running around popping every bubble they could, all until Lunden and his best buddy Wyatt colliaded. Boom both hit head on and fell to the ground. Lunden got a black eye and his buddy left wound-less. Really, why can't my kiddos just avoid any mishaps!

Here is Lunden below waiting at the doctors office the next day, oh and it was not his appointment. It was Bronx's weekly check up, you would have never guessed Bronx was the one seeing the doctor that day! Yes, it was totally swollen shut for two days. Check out the shiner!

After the black eye healed up everyone in our house got the crud....sinus infections, soar throats, and runny noses. Seriously is there a chance we could all be healthy. At least we have already met our family medical deductible for the year thanks to Bronxley. After a good three weeks everyone was finally feeling great. Which made it much easier to do some Christmas shopping and preparing for the holidays.

Speaking of Christmas shopping I love shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I had all of my ads laid out on the floor in front of our fireplace ready to put into action early the next morning. Only one minor set back.....we were having a wonderful Thankgiving dinner at Grandma and Grandpa E.'s house. I had just prepared the most beautiful plate of food for myself, and for you moms out there you know what it is like to have a hot scrumptious meal in front of you that you didn't have to prepare. Well I had taken one bite and Lunden got sick....not just sick but threw up all over my dinner plate, my clothes, and his clothes. Yes he got the flu at our Thanksgiving dinner. Ironically I had just said a little prayer at the dinner table thanking the Lord for a healthy family! Oh man this started a long 10 days with the flu in our house. Of course Bronx got it four days later and it lasted all week long. I felt so bad for my little men of the house.

As the 10 days came to an end and everyone seemed to be feeling better I thought perfect we are in the clear, Bronx is finally keeping down food and Lunden was back to acting like a dinosaur, roaring at Bronx every chance he got. Until Lunden spiked a temperature this past Monday night and started coughing. Here come the antibiotics, pretty sad when the pharmacist at Walgreens knows me by my first name. Oh man....I have got to get my family healthy. So no school or swimming or friends over this week. I am one determined MOM to get my boys to MN for Christmas!!!!!

On a brighter note Bronx is doing great! Rolling over and getting stronger every day. He still has a long road but we will take it one day at a time!

So for all of my blog readers out there, I am sorry I have been MIA. If it makes you feel any better I didn't even finish my book for book club this month. My husband and I take advantage of every possible minute we can take turns sleeping. With two unpredictable boys 24/7 you never know when the next time you will get a little shut eye.

Bronx and Lunden are totally ready for MN! Although Lunden would really prefer to ride on Gordon the train to MN instead of fly. It is really going to be hard to break it to the little guy the day we get on the airplane.

Somehow we will all make the trip to MN happy and healthy. I can't wait to see my family and all of the SNOW!!!!! It's almost Christmas and my family is almost 100% healthy!!!!!

Grapes...Grapes...and more Grapes!

2010-11-23T18:48:00.000-08:00

NAPA VALLEY HERE WE COME!

Last week Nick and I had a couple day MUCH needed vacation planned to Napa Valley. I have to admit it's a little weird writing a blog with out the boys being the key stars. I met Nick in San Francisco after he had a long hard week of work. So I upped and left the boys mid week and was off! Of course they were in good hands with Grandma & Grandpa B. as well as Grandma & Grandpa E. so we were not worried at all.

I can't tell you how weird it was to travel by myself through the airport, eat a dinner with no interruptions, drink a cup of coffee while it was hot, read the morning newspaper from front to back, have absolutely no agenda and listen to what radio station I wanted to in the car! Loved every minute of our getaway! Nick surprised me with all sorts of fun adventures while we were there. I am probably one of the luckiest girls on this earth to have such a wonderful, thoughtful husband like Nick. We have been through a lot in the past three months with Bronx, work, family, and lots of stress. This trip was much needed for the both of us!

Silver Oak...Chateau St. Jean....Viader....Artesa...Darioush..Pine Ridge..are just some of the vineyards we went to. Can you guess where the picture above was taken? Clue...they have an unbelievable cave tour.

These next two pictures are from this year and two years ago. The first one is from two years ago, fall 2008 and the second one is from 2010 same winery and same time of year in both pictures. The view is incredible from Viader.

2008

2010

Ahhhh, how I miss the smell of the grapes but oh how I love being home with my boys!

Thanks for the wonderful trip Love!

Lunden's 1st Commercial

2010-11-08T19:32:00.001-08:00

Yup your lookin' at a little star or should I say little elf! One of the perks of doing advertising and coordinating commercials and media buys is sometimes I get to bring my little guy to work with me. Even though I work out of the house every once in a while the boys will get to escort me to a meeting or a commercial shoot. Well last week was Lundens turn! He did such a great job after a long day of playing outside, swim lessons, and a late night shoot he was able to pull through a couple hour commercial shoot and do exactly what he saw supposed to do!

Nothing like a late night snack from McDonalds to get through the night!

There is a great new store in Bradley Fair, called Carla's Love It. You may have seen the first commercial we did a couple months back in my previous blog. Here is our new commercial for Christmas!

Gotta Love my little Elf!

October Fun!

2010-11-04T12:15:00.001-07:00

Wow...it has been sometime since I have blogged. September was a blurr and October has come and gone. But I will say my main goal was to not spend Halloween in the hospital and needless to say we have accomplished that!

Life has sure taken a us for a ride the past 60 days. I feel like we have a new born at home again even though Bronx is three months old. Figuring out two little peoples schedule is a lot harder than I remembered it 90 days ago. Eating and napping are never at the same time except maybe every three or four days, when one is not crying the other is about two totally different things. Bath time is always eventful as well as remembering all of Bronx's medicines 8 times per day three different ones is always mind boggling. At least I remember to get Lunden to school and swim lessons. Oh and somedays I might even get a shower! But over all Life has been starting to become normal or shall I say as normal as it is going to be right now.

Last week we decided we were going to do our first family outing and venture to the Pumpkin Patch before Halloween. Lunden had a blast and it was so much fun to see pumpkins bring so much joy to a little man! I can't tell you how good it felt to have all four of us in the car at the same time little alone be able to do something as a family outside on a beautiful day!

Bronx is his Halloween getup relaxing in "The Bob"!

Lunden's choice of pumpkin for Bronx, just a little one.

Lunden and Daddy's pumpkin all carved and lit up. This is the pumpkin Lunden picked for himself from the pumpkin patch, right off of the vine!

2010

I had to take this picture because it was just like the year before! Check out the picture below one year ago!

2009, it's amazing how much these little guys change in 365 days.

Yes, Lunden picked up every one but one! It was $15 for all the pumpkins one person could hold!

This is the original pumpkin Lunden wanted....

He is so serious driving the train, such a serious little leader!

The pumpkin pillow!

Welcome to Walters Pumpkin Patch, so worth the trip!

Bronx's Halloween outfit!

Lunden's Dinosaur outfit, he wears is all the time and roars at Bronx all day long!

Checking out the baby chickens at Grandma and Grandpa E.'s church Halloween event. Lunden had a blast and got to see lots of family and friends!

Daddy and Bronx chillin' after a hard week!

Just happy that my littlest pumpkin is home and almost 100%!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween and a great October!

Healthy Bronx

2010-10-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

As many of you know that have been following Bronx's story he has had quite a long road for the past 6 weeks. But a month and a half has passed and we are finally getting back into our regular crazy daily schedule. He was able to come home just a little over a week ago. It is amazing how careful we were to bring him home. I was more nervous to bring him home that day than the day he was born. He was eating his minimum for the 24 hour period the day we left the hospital, which meant we still had some work to do when we got him home. He has almost fully recovered from his horrible GI infection that destroyed his little body. He is strictly on Elecare formula with a little sweetener added in, by the way its $50 a can and it lasts 4-5 days! We have gone to the doctor and will keep going every 3-4 days to check his vitals and weight. So far he is doing awesome and is eating like a champ! Yesterday he weighed in at 12lbs, 12ozs, which is just a little more than what he weighed at his 7 week check up before he got sick, so he is only about 4 weeks behind. Good thing he was born a big healthy baby.

It is amazing all of the help, prayers, and close friends and family that were by us through this whole process. I realized sometimes it takes a very sad and scary situation to bring family closer together and to forget about all the family drama in every day life. What is even more amazing is it was all possible through a little two month old. Our family would like to thank every one of you that said an extra prayer during the day or thought about our family in one way or another. You all made such an impact on our life in the past 45 days. From all the food that was brought up to the hospital, the time our friends and family took out of their day to come and spend time with us, the magazines and movies that were brought to us, as well as the blankets pillows and hospital necessities that were brought daily! It is amazing all of the great support we had from afar and close by. Extra thanks to all of our amazing doctors and nurses that helped every hour of every day! They took extra special care of Bronx and paid very close attention the entire time he was in the hospital.

This is Bronx and his last day in the hospital right before they finally took out his IV. The poor little guy had an IV in both arms and both feet as well as a central line put in through out his stay. He was so ready to not have any lines attached!!!!

Here is Bronx, his favorite nurse (Karen), and his little friend Alicia who we miss. She is a very sick little girl that was allowed to visit Bronx because he was not contagious. She was a hoot and so very bright. This picture actually brings tears to my eyes knowing she has such a different path than most kids do.

When we opend the garage door to our house Grandpa B. and Lunden made signs for Bronx's homecoming. Leave it to Grandpa B. to think of such a fun art project for him and Lundy.

Welcome sign for the FAMILY!

Bronx was officially enjoying the backyard while Lunden was playing on his new swing set from Grandma and Grandpa E. It is amazing how peaceful Bronx looks when he finally got home!

The day after we were home! This year our family Thanksgiving will have just a little different meaning than most! There is nothing better than having the whole family under one roof!

Thanks to everyone!

Love, The Esterline Family

10-10-10

2010-10-10T20:50:00.000-07:00

10-10-10 what a cool birthday if you were born today! We are officially on day 32 in the hospital and today has been a good day. Bronx has held down his feedings for two whole days! We are up to 40 MLs every two hours. We need to be at 60MLs every two hours to get Bronx to baby maintance aka the necessary nutrients needed to sustain his weight in a 24 hour period. He is also still on extra fluids hopefully in the morning after rounds they will start to decrease his fluids as we increase his feedings. Once Bronx can sustain the feedings with no additional TPN or fluids for a day or two we can go home!!!! Am I really writing home!

Well speaking of home, I did go home for a few hours today for the first time in a month. Wow, did I realize what I have taken for granted since we have been in the hospital. Boy have I missed our 4,500 square foot house, our big front and back yard, a kitchen full of fresh fruit, a big comfy couch, my bed, soft clean towels, rugs to wipe my feet off at the front door, my blow dryer, and most of all the boys running through the house! I ran home to wash some clothes and play with Lunden for a couple of hours. It felt so good to be home. As I was washing my clothes I felt like I was in college and was home for the weekend knowing I had to go back to my 2x4 room at the hospital was not a fun feeling.

Even though we have been here one month we have really gotten to know the staff here at Wesley. They have really become our family as well as big fans of Bronx. He is the pediatric floor project. And he is very well known for smiling at all the nurses and doctors that come in our room. It is amazing how resilient these little guys are. As much as he has been poked, pricked, and been in pain he still manages to forget all of that and act like the happiest little baby in the world. Which I am very grateful for since we have seen many other unfortunate families in the past month. Some get well and get to go home and enjoy life to the fullest and other little kids know they will be back for chemo or some sort of therapy depending on their condition.

The night I realized we really didn’t have it that bad was the night a 15 year old boy down the hall was battling cancer. His family as well as hospice was

around saying their last good byes. I had been watching his family come and go for the past four weeks and had no idea what was going on, just that he had had a lot of visitors and the nurses cared about him very much. Their were lots of tears that night in which I realized how strong these nurses and doctors really are on the peds floor. It takes a special breed to be able to leave the peds floor every night, go home to a happy healthy family and be able to come back the next day to deal with sick kids and crazy parents. Yes I said crazy parents, someday I will write a blog about all of the crazy parents I have seen and heard here on the peds floor. It should make for an interesting yet humorous blog!

Thanks to our Wesley family....as we tell all of our favorite doctors when they clock out every shift... “No offense but we would be thrilled to never see you again in your white doctors jacket or your maroon scrubs ever again, we would prefer to see you all in your regular clothes which meant we were not in the hospital!”

Can you see why the nurses come to see Bronx when they are having a tough day?

One Month and counting......

2010-10-09T18:16:00.000-07:00

Apparently we have been in the hospital way to long, we are now doing our own vitals.......

And Nick has become a doctor!

One month, two days and a few hours have officially passed. Bronx has been in the hospital for a little over a month. I actually cried today for the first time in two weeks from pure exhaustion and frustration. I just want him to get better, but as we know this infection is a very long healing process. We now know all the nurses, doctors, their kids as well as their kids’ kids! We are an open door to all of the nurses and doctors as our pantry is full of lots of goodies. They seem to have found our room to be a quiet place they can escape to. If you have ever been in the hospital for a long period of time or perhaps work in one there are absolutely NO places to go for privacy or to just get away. I have a new respect for Grey’s Anatomy. I now know why they always have to sneak away in the little rooms in the hospital to have secret intimate dates! People are everywhere 24/7 and their hours are extremely long!

On a more serious note, Bronx had a pretty good week with just a couple set backs. He tested positive for an infection in his central line on Thursday so they had to remove it Thursday night. They started antibiotics immediately to help with the infection. The infection was the least sever out of all the types it could have been so he only had to be on antibiotics for 3 days. All blood tests have tested negative once we started to treat him, which was a good thing since the infection was only in his central line and not through out his whole body.

On Wednesday he was drinking up to approximately 45MLs per hour. We advanced him to 50MLs Thursday during the day and then to 55MLs that evening after they had taken out his central line. Since he did pretty well with 55MLs over night they decided to push him to 60MLs the next day. The thinking behind that was hoping he would be able to handle the feeds since they had to take out his central line he did not have any TPN (extra nutrients and fats) running in his body. Well, his little body could not handle it yesterday as he got pretty sick. So last night we backed off the Elecare and fed him pedialyte all night long to give his stomach a rest. Today he is back on Elecare and is taking it like a little trooper, only 40MLs every two hours. We are also giving him reglin every four hours or so to help his stomach contract to keep the food moving through his GI track. Since his stomach was so damaged it may need a little more time to heal. So right now we are focused on less feeds and increased fluids through his IV to keep him well hydrated until he can handle the necessary amount of Elecare he needs, which is approximately 20 ounces in a 24 hour period. Right now he drinks about 6-10 ounces in a 24 hour period. So we have a little work.

As of right now it is a waiting game to see how his little system will handle the next feeds. Every hour we feed him we just pray his little system will be able to handle it. We know we can get through this but we are sure excited to get home and get our little family of four back into a routine.

Thanks to all of our family and friends that have taken great care of Lunden and have said lots of extra prayers for baby Bronx! I don’t know what we would have done with out all of the Grandparents coming together to help us out.

Lunden lovin' on little brother Bronx!

Day 24......

2010-10-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

Bronx has had a pretty good week considering all he has been through. Twelve talented doctors and lots of wonderful nurses taking care of him each and every minute of his little journey. We received the preliminary results back from Mayo this week. They were running tests for allergies, bacteria, auto immune disorders, and other rare abnormalities that he might have been born with. The preliminary results show that there are only signs of a sever bacteria infection as well as a few allergy cells swarming around. So no steroids, we will just continue on with antibiotics. We get the final results next Friday, but so far those are looking good.

An average person that were to get a Campylobacter infection would be down for 10-14 days, now imagine a baby getting this. It is an average of 6-8 weeks of recovery. So the ultimate goal is to decrease his fluids and TPN and increase his Elecare (which is a type of formula that is extremely broken down) daily until we get to a point where he does not have to rely on extra fluid or TPN. What comes out of Bronx cannot exceed what goes in. His small intestines, gut, and stomach have been on rest for so long we are hoping they are all functional at this point and will cooperate with the feedings.

Yes, this is a picture outside. Funny story....every morning at seven am the attendee and the three residents make their rounds (just like Grey's Anatomy, I always want to mention that when they come in). On Wednesday I was complaining that all the walls were closing in on us in our little 2x4 room, and that being in prison may be a vacation compared to being in the hospital because in prison they get "yard time". Everyone kind of laughed, but they totally took is seriously and since we have become their pet project on the 5th floor they decided to let Bronx have yard time from here on out one hour a day! It was a huge day for Bronx since he hadn't seen the sun in almost a month!

Bronx was so relaxed and loved being outside. P.S. Bronx's TPN and Fluids will be the most expensive toy he will ever be attached to!

So here we wait patiently in our 2X4 room, learning all about each nurse, doctor, and anything we can hear in between our little walls. Could be another week, or two, or three.......time will only tell. Our only goal is to get our little man better as well as sustain his weight. He is very lucky he was 9lbs, 6oz when he was born. A week before we came into the hospital he was a little over 12 pounds. Today he is a little over 10 pounds, so he still has a little way to go. A newborn baby should gain an ounce a day. We love seeing extra rolls!

We are on the road to recovery even though we have been in here almost a month we still count our blessings every day, why you ask? Because there are four little kids down the hall with Leukemia, and there is a little baby down the hall that has no one taking care of him after he had a major surgery the parents have not visited in four days, and watching the little blond curly hair girl ride in the wagon every day she is here as she falls asleep to the nurses pulling her around the floor. I have no idea how the doctors and nurses come here day in an day out and have to see such severe cases and work with parents that don’t care. A person hears about cases like this, but seeing them in person is a real eye opener. I am very thankful that we are finally seeing some light at the end of this long tunnel.

If I were to suggest one thing today it would be to give your little one an extra hug and kiss today just because....be thankful you are at home or on the playground with your little munchkin!

Check out Bronx's golf socks, he watched golf all day long today supporting the Ryder Cup! He hasn't been able to wear clothes in three weeks, so I thought I would dress him up for the occasion!

19.....Still Hospital Bound

2010-09-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog....yes it is Tuesday and we meet again! Day 19 has come and gone and these hospital walls are looking a little more droopier today. I thought I would have some good news today or at least Bronx’s results, but I don’t. The results are not going to be back until Friday. So we are patiently awaiting....

After consulting with the GI pediatric specialists in Kansas City, the GI pediatric specialists here in Wichita have decided to keep Bronx here in Wichita and to not transfer him to Kansas City because they are doing everything here that they would be doing in Kansas City. They still believe he has a very bad bacteria that has attached his GI track (stomach, gut, and intestines). But only the tests will really tell if that is the only problem. The only way to heal this area is to let Bronx take small amounts of elecare at a time or not feed him at all and let his gut rest. He has been getting fed for the past 12 days through his central line which is through his veins. Yesterday he was allowed 1ml per hour, which is nothing. Approximately 1/5 of a teaspoon per hour. He did pretty well although more was coming out then going in so he was slightly dehydrated so they had to increase his fluids.

Today they decided to give him 2ml every hour when he was awake. Still nothing, but the thinking behind getting something in his GI track is to try to exercise the muscles that have not been working for the past two weeks. For example if you don’t use your arm for a month you will start to loose your mobility, the same goes for your GI track. We want to make sure it does not forget how to work.

So the plan as of tonight.....increase his feedings to 2ml per hour, watch his fluid intake vs. his fluid out, have an ultra sound in the morning to rule out any tumors, ulcers, or cysts that may have appeared or been missed in his previous sonograms, try to get him to sustain or gain more weight without managing his fluid intake, and wait until Friday for the results from Mayo. Once the results come back we will then determine if there is something more than a bacteria and how we will treat it. If it is more than a bacteria and it cannot be treated here we will be looking at all options as to what the next step is, but lets just hope for the best right now. Because I really don’t even want to get into that right now.

Thanks so much for all of the extra prayers and wonderful friends and family that have visited, sent us gifts, brought up food and LOTS of Coffee and have taken care of little Lunden while we are focused on Bronx (he needs lots of extra lovin’). We would not be able to spend every waken minute of our day focused on getting our little man better if it wasn’t for all of you.

P.S. Bronx has one request.....”if only the Yankees could win a game that would really put a smile on my Dad’s face. Thanks from your littlest Yankee fan.”

Bronx the Fighter!

2010-09-26T20:39:00.000-07:00

Day 17...Ground Hog Day (you have to have seen the movie to understand) is our little joke every morning Nick and I wake up in our little hospital room. Same things happen day after day while waiting for a definite answer. Wake up, the nurses take blood from Bronx, check his vitals, and the doctors make their rounds. Then Nick and I look at each other as to whom is going to get in the shower first and get ready. There really is no hurry to get ready in the morning because we are in our sweats all day long pampering our little sick baby. Although today was a little different....Nick actually went home to pay bills since we have been here half of a month . Summer has come and gone and fall has officially arrived while we have been in the hospital. I wore my yoga pants today for the first time in a long time and I also busted out my long sleeve shirt even though I never went outside today. I realized I haven’t worn a long sleeve shirt since April, wow!

On a positive note Bronx is doing well so we think. He is maintaining his weight, his color looks good, his heart rate is strong, and he hasn’t had a temperature in almost five days. But his little inside is still healing. He has not eaten by mouth for 11 full days and still has another three to go. We are patiently waiting for the Mayo Clinic results, which we should have by Tuesday afternoon. Those will determine the next step that will be taken. Plan A: All results are negative and we can start trying to feed Bronx on Wednesday along with a round of steroids. Plan B: Send us to Children’s Mercery Hospital in Kansas City if anything comes back positive that they cannot treat here. Let’s all pray for PLAN A!!!!!!!

Even though the days are getting longer we have really tried to make the best of it. We know all the nurses and doctors along with all of their immediate families and kids! They are a great team and have worked very hard to get our little man better. They have expressed to us that this is a case they have not had before and have learned a lot from our little Bronx. Go figure a nine week old is teaching medical lessons.

To make us feel like we are at home I have done a few housekeeping things.....

I have a cute pink little rug on my bedside that my mother in law got me. And my mom brought me some cute little leopard slippers to go with the rug. They both know me oh so well! We brought all of our own blankets, pillows, and towels up here the second night we were in the hospital. Boy am I glad we did that! Nothing like a little extra comfort from home. I also have my curling iron here to curl my hair, it lasts a couple of days and makes me feel just a little better to actually have my hair done. I walked across the street yesterday to have lunch with my good friend Rachel. It was only the third time in 17 days that I left the hospital property. Little nervous to leave my little man, but don’t worry I had my cell phone in hand.

All in all we are just playing the hurry up and wait game. The hurry is over now the wait is on! Let’s just hope with all of the prayers and helpful doctors we will get a solid answer on TUESDAY!

P.S. When this is all over I will have one heck of a blog to write about all the crazy people in the hospital. Or shall I title it as “In Between the Hospital Walls”.

Until Tuesday XOXOXO Hospital Mom

Bronx's Battle

2010-09-22T20:03:00.000-07:00

So today has been a very emotional draining day. The day started out with our normal hospital routine, wake up 5am to Bronx getting his blood drawn for the day as well as any meds that need to be taken. Seven am rolls around and here come the parade of doctors, except today was a little different. Bronx’s hemoglobin was below 6 which should be around 9-10 at his age. Which meant he had to have a blood transfusion first thing this morning. He had lost so much blood from his stools as well as all of the blood testing they have done over the past 14 days it was time to replace. So before his EDG today he had a two hour blood transfusion. Within in hour he was already looking a little pinker and his heart rate was much steadier in the 130s instead of the 170s and 180s.

After the infusion he was then sedated for his EDG to test for any allergies, bacteria, viruses, small intestines diseases, as well an any auto immune deficiencies. They saw that his small intestines were very swollen and that his colon looked good. The test were sent off to the Mayo Clinic and we should know something by tomorrow afternoon or possibly Friday. Once we got back to the room the doctors then informed us that the bacteria they thought he had could quit possibly be nothing. Apparently in the lab these results are coming back a little to common and are possibly being cross contaminated with another bacteria. What does that mean you ask? Well we asked the same thing.....it means he probably does not have a bacteria after all and we are back to the drawing board. Which is why they have put in the order for every possibly intestine test they can think of. So here we are with many different emotions sitting in a 2X4 box looking at four white walls trying to figure out what the next step is?

This is by far one of the hardest times in my life, one of the toughest days I can remember all with the great support of family and friends by our side. I would do anything to put Lunden to bed tonight or to be home to play on his new swing set Grandma and Grandpa E. got him for his birthday. I haven’t even seen it yet and it has been up for two whole weeks. I would do anything to be able to bring him to school or pick him up from swim lessons. I know he is just dying to get out his golf clubs, he has probably starting loosing his golf swing! As I walked him out to the car tonight he gave me a huge hug and said, “I miss you mom.” I didn’t want him to see me cry so I quick buckled him in and walked slowly back in the hospital with alligator tears flowing down my cheek.

The one little thing I look forward to everyday is getting to see Lunden’s smiling face! I miss my little buddy so much and can’t even explain how hard it is every night to say good night and buckle him in the car seat as Grandma drives off to tuck him into bed. Soon this shall all be over and all of our questions shall be answered, but today is not that day. Soon we shall all be under one roof...not this week or the next but possibly just possibly the week after we could all be together again. And just maybe tomorrow I will pray that we have good news and the test show a problem that can be treated!

XOXOXOXO, mom of a fighting little boy

Baby Bronx Update

2010-09-21T19:43:00.000-07:00

My Little Fighter!

Bronx sleeping peacefully before he got his central line.

Daddy snuggling up with Bronx. We got rid of the crib on day 5 and opted for another bed so both Nick and I would be able to sleep. Bronx was not a big fan of the hospital crib.

It is day 13 and counting..... I sit in the little hospital room patiently waiting for my little man Bronx to get better. 13 days ago Bronx starting throwing up bile as well as have bloody stools. Anyone that is a mom knows this is a big red flag and that a doctor visit is necessary. That night we were admitted into the hospital due to Bronx being dehydrated not thinking we would still be here. After 75 plus tests, 90 minutes to get an IV started, a spinal tap, three sonograms, one x-ray and a one week later he tested positive for Campylobacter Bacteria and possibly has an allergy to the protein in cows milk.

Campylobacter Bacteria is a bacteria that is picked up from animals, pets or raw meat, or eggs that infects a bodies GI track. We have no idea where Bronx could have picked this up from. Apparently there are numerous cases involving infants here in Kansas. It could have been picked up by someone touching Bronx’s hand that lives on a farm that had touched animals before they touched him. All Bronx has to do it put his little hand in his mouth and he is infected. That is why it is so important to wash your hands frequently you never know what the person before touched or where they have been.

Last Friday Bronx had to have surgery to have a central line put in to give his stomach, gut, and small intestines a rest for seven straight days. Nothing can touch his stomach to let it heal. He is being fed and treated through his central line. They can also draw blood from his central line for his daily tests. Tomorrow he has another small procedure called an EDG. He will be put to sleep and they will take pieces from his small intestines and stomach to send away to the Mayo Clinic for additional testing. Which of course takes 24-48 hours to find out the results. If I never heard 24-48 hours again I would be just fine with that!

Once the seven days are complete they will start the process of tube feeding to expand his stomach and test his small intestines as well as his gut to see if they can handle any food. If that is successful it is another 5-7 day process starting out taking half an ounce of formula an hour. The goal is to get to 2-3 ounces in about two minutes like a normal infant.

If all of this is successful which we are very hopeful for we will have stayed in Hotel Wesley (The Hospital) for almost one month. If you would have told me 13 days ago I would be here for a month I would have never believed you! Bronx is a great fighter and I know he can get through this. Lets just hope this is it and there are no other new surprises! I am not sure I could take another problem at this point in the game.

We have been extremely fortunate for our grandparents the past two weeks. They have tagged team to help with Lunden, laundry, school activities, as well as worry about Bronx all at the same time. Nick and I are very fortunate that we both work from home so we can fully commit our time and energy into getting out little man home. I officially feel like I live in a dorm room with my little fridge, carry tote to and from our bathroom, and my own personal TV. The days are getting long and every hour I feel myself getting a little more feisty with the nurses and doctors even though we have had impeccable care. I have to remind myself they are here to help us and they are not the people you want to make mad.

So....please please please keep my little Bronx in your prayers. He has been in a lot of pain but is getting better by the day. We still have a long road ahead of us! Soon we will be home cuddling in our own beds under our own roof!

Smiling while he is still fighting in between treatments! Talk about a determined little man!

Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers and positive energy coming our way!

XOXOXO

New Commercial!

2010-09-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

I get asked quit often what I do all day long and how the heck do I work from home with two little boys? Well, just picture this I am nursing Bronx, while Lunden is napping all while Oprah has my undivided attention in the background while writing a blog. That's how a working Mom multi-tasks!

Oh and why do I have Oprah on you ask, well one of my client's commercials is supposed to be running today and I wanted to make sure it ran correctly. Yes, I actually watch the commercials in the TV programs. It's my JOB! Everything from writing the commercial, to setting up the producers to shoot the commercial, to being at the shoot organizing all the shots with the producers, to buying the media/commercial time.

Here is a new boutique that just opened up here in Wichita! It is such a cute unique store located in Bradley Fair!

School has started!

2010-09-04T13:27:00.001-07:00

Lunden is officially a pre-schooler! He started pre-school two weeks ago. It is crazy how early Kansas starts schools. I am so used to MN schools starting after Labor Day every year. Here they start a couple of weeks before. We weren't sure how Lunden would do in pre-school as a two year old this year, but he has done awesome so far. With baby brother Bronx arriving I think this was the best thing for Lunden. He gets his own thing to do twice a week. He loves his teacher and his "new friends" as he calls them. Best of all he loves going to school!

Here is Lunden finding his locker in "practice week" of pre-school. They all have their picture on them, so darn cute! Check out the Yankee backpack!

He shoved his back-pack in his locker so fast so he could scurry into the class room, such a little boy!

Lunden was in 7th heaven with the train table and the bubble machine! His class is all boys and only two little girls. Do these teachers have any idea what they are in for?

Lunden's official first day of class!!!! He was so pumped!

He wanted to walk alone to his locker. He did not want to hold my hand once we got into the school he was ready to go!

Lunden's first school art project!

What a talented little man!

60th Birthday Fun!

2010-09-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have really fell off the blogging bandwagon these past 30 days. I have so many fun posts I don't even know where to start. So I have decided to start with the beginning of the month and work my way through!

A couple weeks after Bonxley was born we threw a surprise Birthday Party for Grandpa L. The big 60! David and Lena and the three kiddos came in from Colorado. Nicole, Matt, and Lucy came in from Lincoln, and Mimi and Sam flew in from the Caribbean just for this fun weekend! Grandpa L. was so surprised! Grammy L. had so many things planned that the weekend was pretty much a blurr. It started out with everyone meeting at our house for some swimming and fun! Yes we had 6 adults and 6 kids all under one roof at the same time for the day. For the rest of the weekend we had 5 kids and 4 adults under the same roof. Like I said in my profile, this blog is to let you know what happens under my roof!

That night we all went over to Grammy and Papa's house and surprised Papa!

Here are all the grandkids but one, miss Lucy was fast asleep!

Papa L. with Nicole and David, what a great picture!

Nicole, Matt, Lucy and Nick enjoying another great meal!

Nick and Papa L enjoying a wonderful glass of Cobalt, they have been saving this bottle just for a special evening!

Papa L. has been watching Lunden help cook to much! Lunden always has to sit on the counter to help me prepare dinner. Or perhaps Papa L. had a couple glasses of vino before hand.....

Uncle Nick is teaching the boys how to fill up their water balloons by the pool! These boys had a blast the entire weekend.

And yes, I had to throw this picture in, I borrowed this bouncy toy from a good friend for the boys. 100 degrees gets a little to hot to be outside for these little ones so I thought this would be a great time killer inside. Besides Alex getting a bloody lip and Lunden getting a black eye the bouncy castle was a huge hit! (picture blurry b/c it was taken with my phone, I really need one of those IPHONES!!!!)

All in all the weekend was a huge success. Grammy worked like crazy to get everyone here from all over the country with out papa knowing and believe me he is pretty nosy so I can't believe he didn't figure it out! We had so much fun with all the kids together and the best part of the weekend was Grammy set up a photo shoot for the whole family. I can't wait to share the pictures with everyone.

Happy 60th BDAY Papa L!

KRISPY KREME!

2010-08-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Today we went on a tour of Krispy Kreme. The kids had so much fun! Have you ever wondered who is really making your Krispy Kreme doughnut? I am going to let the pictures take you through the fun Lunden had today at Krispy Kreme!

"Hey man, you look funny in your hat." "Right back at you brother."

I am ready to make you a doughnut mom!

The health department should be very proud of out little guys.

Let's get this show on the road. I can't believe they actually kept these gloves on. Lunden will do anything for a doughnut!

First Step: We dip the doughnut in the chocolate frosting.

Second Step: We dip the doughnut in the sprinkles!

Third Step: Get approval from the Krispy Kreme expert.

Fourth Step: ENJOY our freshly made doughnuts with our buddies!

This was so much fun, by the end of the trip Lunden had eaten two whole doughnuts. Needless to say he didn't eat very much lunch today!

It's never to late to throw a party!

2010-08-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

My blogging time has officially been taken over by work or sleep! I am not sure I have ever gone two whole weeks without posting a blog, I apologize to my family and friends for not keeping up with the daily or weekly blogs, for those of you that actually read my blog on a regular basis.

Life has been a blurr for the past 14 days...new baby, Lunden's Birthday, soccer practice, cleaning, lots of out of town visitors, work, oh and not much sleep. Thank goodness my mommy work out friends are bringing us dinners nightly for the whole month of August, or I am pretty sure my husband would be starving! He is a big fan of the meals on wheels created by our Stroller-fit moms. I believe his exact words last night were, "It is going to be a sad day when this gravy train ends." He is absolutely loving all of the home cooking! I never realized how hard it is to prepare meals with two little ones running around. Let me just paint you a picture of our lunch time...... I am nursing Bronx while I am making the mac n' cheese and the water is boiling over as Lunden is trying to shimmy up on the counter to help stir the boiling water. Needless to say, the client lunches I used to have daily have become a little more casual.

In the madness of everything I wake up one morning (Lunden's Birthday) and realize neither Nick or myself have not planned anything for Lunden's Birthday. The only thing we had planned was to take him to the toy store and let him pick out anything he wanted. I wanted to take him to Stearman Field for dinner, but Bronx's schedule did not allow that so Bronx decided he was going to send out impromptu evites and throw Lunden a Thomas the Train swim party over the weekend. Bronx invited Grammy and Papa as well as a few of Lunden's close friends. Thomas the Train cake, balloons, a super dome pizza from the Alley, a cool pool, lots of snacks and refreshments, great friends and family and a really hot day to top it off made for a great 2nd Birthday Party. Lunden is so lucky to have such a thoughtful little brother!

Lunden shopping with his personal shopping cart at the Toy Store, Imagine that Toys. By the end of the trip it was full!

Nick and Lunden trying out the new trains he picked out.

I had to leave early to feed Bronx so I waited patiently for Lunden and Nick in the car to finish up their shopping. As they were walking out to the car I noticed Lunden had a huge bag full of toys: trains, a book, and a huge plastic dinosaur. Nick had a funny face when he got in the car. He told me when they got up to the cash register Lunden found this huge dinosaur and asked if he could get it. Of course what does a dad say on a little guy's birthday? YES. Well this little dinosaur was $40. Yes, a plastic dinosaur that you could buy at Wal-Mart for $10! Holy cow that is what we get for going to a speciality toy store. How do you tell a birthday boy NO at the cash register when you find out the price after the fact? You don't you suck it up and let the little guy have his moment. That darn thing hasn't been touched since it has been home! Lesson learned by mom and dad, check price tags before purchasing!

Hey mom, I found this present by the cooler, check out what I got!

Thomas the Train cake! He loved it, especially the frosting!

Lunden and his friends blowing out the candles.

Tasty!

Lunden got a water balloon pump from Grammy and Papa, huge hit! I think Nick liked it more than the kiddos did.

Little Man!!!

Love Mom, Dad, and Little Bro Bronx

The Bob!

2010-08-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

We started out two years ago with the stroller above running one to four miles a day four to five days a week. And no, Bob is not paying me to write this blog although they really should think about it!

My little man and I have been on many adventures across many different states with the Bob. We could probably write a song about them or perhaps do a Bob commercial! I have been procrastinating for the past 10 months on ordering my new Bob because I was waiting to see if 2010 brought new colors for the Bob Duallie. Well 2010 is here and is almost gone and there are no new colors to report, so we decided to order the orange duallie for the boys being that there are only two colors to choose from, navy blue or orange. Well a majority of the moms in our Mommy Muscle class already have the navy blue stroller so I decided to order orange!

Gotta love the Bob or should I say Lunden and Bronx's Bentley!!!!! I love that they can sit side by side! It is by far one of the smoothest rides the boys could have while I am running and working out! It is the Bob Revolution Duallie. If you are going to order a jogging stroller make sure the front tire rotates to allow you to turn corners easily. I ordered mine from www.diapers.com yesterday at 12 noon and it was on my doorstep by 3:00 today! Yes the very next day!

We Moms can get a little crazy!

Here is a little funny yet educating video of Lunden and I in our Mommy Muscle Class! I am 35 weeks pregnant with Bronx in this video. Yes I believe I look like a tug boat!!!! But don't worry, in just a few weeks I will be back to a hot fit mamma!

Similarities from day one.....

2010-07-31T06:31:00.000-07:00

It has been so much fun comparing all of the similarities of our two munchkins! They are going to be such great brothers with lots of fun and crazy stories that mom and dad may or may not want to hear about. Here is just the start of their similarities from day one.

Brothers snoozin' away! Can you guess who is who? Bronx or Lunden?????

Post your guess on my comments to this post and a random winner will be chosen to win a free Hand Made Crayola Crayon Carrier!!

Picture A.

Picture B.

Here is Lunden last week, even sitting straight up in his car seat he still sleeps with his arms over his head.

I love my two boys!!!!!

26.....

2010-07-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

11 days have gone by....yes Bronx is officially 11 days old today and a lot has changed in this household. Three boys and the queen bee all under one roof trying to hold down the fort. Let me just sum up the past 11 days in 26 ways since there are 26 letters in the alphabet. Sometimes less sometimes more according to Lunden.....

1. I will start out by tellong you all Lunden is working on his alphabet and the 26 letters get sang about 1,000 times a day. Please feel free to come on over and take my place!

2. I forget how easy babies are when they are newborns, sleep, eat, and poop about sums it up!

3. Though not to forget Bronx still has his nights and days mixed up, although they are getting better!

4. My personal chef/shopper/babysitter aka MY MOM was here for three weeks and flew back to MN last Saturday. I can't believe what a huge help she was for the past three weeks! Thanks Mom!

5. I have ventured out only one time in the past 11 days by myself with both boys. Lunden had soccer practice. It went really well until after practice when I decided I was going to try to tackle the grocery store with the two of them and looked down and saw that my shirt was soaking wet, yes Mother Nature took over and decided it was time for the little man to eat. Ahhhh, I guess we will be turning back around and heading home. No groceries today!

6. I have forgotten how loud a little tiny baby can toot, boy oh boy! Lunden is silent but violent for the whole world to smell and Bronx is just plain loud for the whole world to hear!

7. I am slowly figuring out it is all right to love on each boy as much as I want to through out the day with out feeling like I am leaving one of them out.

8. I love that the Grandmas are able to take Lunden on adventures and spend quality time with him. That is one of my biggest fears is he will feel left out.

9. Lunden has become an excellent big brother! He kisses and hugs Bronx all day long as well as feeds him anything he can get his hands on!

10. Afternoon nap times are beginning to be my favorite time of the day. A little down time for mom to work and some resting time for the boys! Lunden insists on laying in our California King size bed for naps so we can all snuggle together. Something I love about working from home!

11. My Stroller friends have put meals together for our family for the next month, yes we get 4-5 meals delivered each week. I felt a little guilty at first, but when I attempted to make lunch on Monday I found myself in a little tizzy.....macaroni and cheese on the stove boiling over, Lunden yelling at his trains because they kept falling off of the track, all while I am nursing Bronx tromping around the house. So I figured out I am very great-full for such great friends!!!! Two munchkins is much different than one!

12. Today Grammy L. took Lunden to strollerfit at the zoo so she could work out and he could see his friends. I got the chance to run some errands. Dry cleaning, wash the car, and a quick stop at Target for the necessities. Oh and I also got to enjoy a Starbucks de-caf coffee while I shopped! I can't remember the last time I did that. For the record new babies are SO EASY!!!!

13. My Double Bob stroller is official on order!

14. I absolutely love love love that Bronx can fit into all of Lunden's clothes. Why you ask, well because I love taking pictures and looking at how Bronx looks identical to Lunden's baby pictures!

15. Bronx and I attended Book Club last night, I mention this because I never left the house until Lunden was almost three weeks old! Bronx and I have been all over town this week.

16. It is so hot outside I am having to be creative finding fun games and activities for Lunden to play inside. 100 degrees plus a new born does not go over very well.

17. Our pool has not been used in 5 days, which is a summer record for 2010. Lunden and I swam almost everyday day before Bronx arrived. Still have not mastered two boys, one mom, and a pool???

18. I have started to notice that Lunden is not as much a mamma's boy as he used to be, he gets so excited when Nick comes home at night. He has now figured out his play buddy/Dad is home and ready to go!

19. I forgot to mention in a past blog that we were able to Skype my family from back home while we were in the hospital so they could see Bronx when he was just born. Technology has come so far!

20. My house is still clean and all the laundry is caught up.....although my floors could use a good scrubbin'!

21. I thought it was hard getting in a shower with one boy, it is even harder with two! Absolutely no privacy what so ever!!!!!

22. I loved that I looked outside today when I got home from running errands and the pool guy had been at our house along with the lawn mower guys! Something about everything being tidied up feels good.

23. Glancing in my rear view mirror and seeing two car seats still has not set in.

24. I only have ten more pounds to go and I will be back at my pre-preggo weight! I have packed up all of my maternity clothes for GOOD!

25. I can't wait for the rest of our family to meet Bronx!

26. Last but not least, I officially love being a BOYMOM!

My THREE YANKEES!!!!!

July 17th has changed forever....

2010-07-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

24 hours of contractions, two tired parents, three tired grandparents and the little man finally arrived at 5:21am this past Saturday morning, July 17th! It is amazing what the body goes through during birth. There is a reason you forget about all the horrible aches and pains that accure while having a baby. I will spare you the details....but lets just say they were putting in my IV and epideral at the same time when all of a sudden my water broke! Yes, they were yelling for the doctor and extra back up since I was dialated to a eight already. For those of you mammas out there that have been through child-birth, need I say more.

The night we left for the hospital Grandma B. stayed with Lunden while he slept, then Grammy L. was kind enough to call at the crack of dawn to relieve Grandma B. so she could come up to the hospital since she missed the birth of grand baby #1. So now there are two generous Grandmas that are just as tired as Mom and Dad since they both stayed up all night long with an energetic little two year old!

Little Bronx arrived just a few hours later! I still have trouble believing there was 9lbs, 6oz and 20 inches inside my little belly, or should I say HUGE belly! Yes, our newest little Yankee fan!

For those of you that don't know my husband is one of the biggest Yankee fans so needless to say he had a huge say in this little man's name. We knew the whole time it was going to have something to do with Yankee baseball, but that the name had to be unique.

There is a lot in naming a little baby. Our first little man is Lunden James. Lunden we heard off of American Idol one night, the singer was horrible! Although the only positive comment from each judge was how much they loved the singer's name, as did we. That is where Lunden came from. James is Nick's middle name, as well as all of Nick's cousins middle name and his Grandpa's first name. So for the first boy in this family mamma had no say in what the middle name was going to be.

As for Bronx, his full name is Bronxley Patrick. Bronx of course is the name Nick made up, thanks to his Yankees! Patrick is my dad's name and it is also Ben, my little brother's middle name. So for Bronx we decided to go with Patrick. If you look closely in the picture below Nick has his Yankee shirt on. Yes, he supports them 24/7!

Proud Daddy and Bronx taking a snooze just two hours after he was born!

Proud Daddy, or should I say the best daddy in the world!

Proud Grandparents, Grammy and Papa L.

Proud Grandma B., Grandpa B. will be here in August!

Our sweet little family of four! It is really hard to get a good picture with a two year old. He is such a great big brother!!!! He brought Bronx a teddy bear and a ball up to the hospital! Bronx gave Lunden a new train along with three Thomas the Train books. Lunden loved them. This was one thing I had packed before we left to go to the hospital, was Lunden's Big Brother package. So glad I had something for him to play with when he came up to the hospital to see brother!

We just picked up Lunden from Grammy and Papa L's house. Check out Lunden's reaction when he sees Bronx in the back seat with him....priceless!

Nothing like leaving the hospital in 100 degree heat!

Welcome to the family BRONX!!!!!

Lunden's New Tricks

2010-07-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

Well last week was a very long week waiting for baby number two to arrive. (I will write more on that later.....need more time than 10 minutes to get all of my pictures collected). Anyhow Lunden learned two new tricks last week while him and Nick had lots of "boytime" while I was suffering the heat being 40 weeks pregnant waiting for the little man to arrive. Lunden is obsessed with the pool and jumping off the side he mastered two new tricks last week. One with Nick and the other with me. He now jumps off the diving board by himself with Nick, Nick has been working on this all summer long! And I taught him how to jump off the side of the pool onto a noodle and swim to the side of the pool to the stairs all by himself. The main reason for teaching him this at the time was because my back hurt so bad to catch him I had to figure out a new trick so he could still jump off the side. My little fish is a quick learner!!!!!

Patio Remodel is checked off the List!

2010-07-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

As most of you blog followers know we have been remodeling our outside patio since April when Nick got the bug one afternoon to demo our existing deck. Grandma and Grandpa E. helped out big time with this project and we are very thankful for their time and patience over the past three months! It has been a fun project for the whole family and to top it off we no longer have a skunk family living under our deck!

Demo Day!

After about two hours....

four hours later.....there was no going back!

Lunden helping Nick with the big project, why do little boys always want to be half naked outside?

Once Nick finally finished the demo job, Grandpa and Grandma E. came over to help dig the drainage trench.

Lunden doing his part!

We decided to put a rod iron fence around stamped concrete. Here are the worker men preping for the concrete. Lunden brought them all gatorade since it was 4:30 in the afternoon and they had been on a couple of jobs prior during the day, oh and I forgot to mention it was about 95 degrees outside!

Lunden helping Grandpa E. carry the top layer for the stamped concrete.

Lunden enjoying the view from the bobcat!

Lunden helping the cement men!

Here is the finished product! We love it!!!!

So nice to have a fence around the patio for the boys! Much safer than what we had before and much for comfortable! We have enjoyed many evenings the past two weeks outside in our new patio!

Wet Noodles

2010-07-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a blurr, I am as big as a hippo, overly tired, perhaps a little cranky and my husband and mom are fortunate enough to be witnesses of it all! Lucky them! My mom has been here for a week and a half and has been helping out a ton waiting for baby #2 to arrive. In the past week I have pampered myself to the max and taken little cat naps all to find out I am still exhausted and cranky! After todays doctor appointment this little man is still not ready to come out, he is still cookin' away.

In the past seven days I have: gotten a pedicure, a full new set of nails, my hair colored and cut from the famous Carrie, gotten two maternity massages making sure every pressure point was satisfied, and cleaned the house AGAIN!!!!! And still after all of this feel exhausted. How could this little man be taking so much of my energy and he is not ever here yet?

I do think Lunden thinks Grandma officially lives with us now. She is now the new conductor of his trains. And I love it, I think they have played more trains, and legos in the past week then Grandma B. has ever played in her life!

Last week while I was getting a pedicure Grandma B. decided to take Lunden on a wagon ride to the ice cream store, they no more than walked in the door and it started to down poor. Really hard, and not stopping for a while. So what did ole' grandma decide to do, truck it back to the house in the pouring rain, it may have only been a 15 minute walk, but it was a long 15 minute walk. Thank goodness the wagon had holes in the bottom of it so Lunden didn't have to take a bath ride all the way home.

WET NOODLES!!!!!

So needless to say I have to think Grandma B. has gone above and beyond the call of duty for helping around the house with little Lundy, while waiting for brother to arrive!

Here is Lunden running through the puddles after they finally made it home!

Wet and Wild Zoo Day!

2010-07-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

Today Grandma B., Lunden, baby in belly, and myself loaded up the car and decided to join our stroller friends/moms group at the Zoo for Wet and Wild days with the Fire Department. There are a few select fridays through out the summer that the fire department goes out to the zoo and sprays water for 3-4 hours for all the kids to run through. Keep in mind in Kansas it is almost always 90-100 degrees all summer long and very HUMID. So this is a fun activity for the kiddos in the middle of the day.

Puddle Jumping!!!

Lunden found one little puddle outside of the big puddle, he decided to try to swim a few laps.

And the results from the puddle!

This is great! I love the firemen!

Lunden and his best buddies Jayden and Wyatt running across the big puddle.

Lunden was able to get Tonya to run through the water! The fireman got Tonya good! Maybe it's for all of the running she has been making us do lately? Yes, she is our trainer!

Lunden with the firemen, he was about to fall asleep here!

Grandma B. got Lundy a snow cone on our way out of the zoo! What a way to end the day!!!!!

4th of July 2010....

2010-07-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

4th of July has come and gone and still no baby! We are all here waiting patiently and big as a house, well all right just one of us is as big as house! But I will say we did have a blast yesterday. I pondered and pondered on what to do since we were not going to be at the lake this year or traveling across the country for the first time in a long time. Grandma B. is in town for a couple of weeks so we decided to invite Grandma and Grandpa L. over along with our friends The Lovingfoss clan. We decided to make it a small crowd since we were all up in limbo with the baby status, and to be totally honest I am really tired these days!

We had so much fun once the rain finally stopped! We had planned to go swimming all day long with the kiddos and grill out, instead everyone came over a couple hours later to enjoy a grill out and some fun fireworks.

But before we got the fire works going the kiddos had to play in the big dirt pile on the side of our house from our patio remodeling (blog will be coming soon on this project). Of course since it had been raining for almost 48 hours it was a huge pile of clay! Check out Lunden's shoes, Rachel to the rescue!

While the boys played in the dirt Willow enjoyed a popsicle, all right maybe I gave her two. But all of Lunden's friends know when they come to his house they get as many popsicles as they want! Does it count that they are sugar free???? It's just one of those perks of being Lunden's friend!

Lunden and Nick made a trip to the fireworks stand. Lunden picked out a ton of goodies! Do you think he is a little excited?

Royal and Nick showing the kids how to light the big bombers!

Lunden and Jayden loved the snaps. Willow would throw a whole pack at one time. I am not sure who liked them more Nick or the kids. Nick liked them so much he ran back up to the fireworks stand and bought a case of 50 boxes. This was by far great entertainment had by all!

Nick showing Lunden how to light snake fireworks with Rachel's huge torch.

Jayden showing Lunden how to work the first sparkler of the night.

Lunden and his very first sparkler, thanks Jaydo for showing Lunden how to be a sparkle mania!

Once they got the hang of them, Royal brought out the big boy sparklers! You should have seen their eyes.

I promise I won't light the trees on fire Dad! If you could just let go, that would make this process a little easier. Which Dad did!

Here is the kiddos grand finale, their faces are priceless!

Lunden's first sparkler experience!

Thanks to all of the men and women that sacrifice their lives so we can enjoy freedom everyday of our lives! We had a great time with family and friends. And are very thankful for the time we got to spend with all of them on the 4th of July. Even though there is still no baby! I really thought a 4th of July baby would have been kind of cool!

Just one more little video to show you how much fun they had with the snaps!

The clock is ticking......

2010-07-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well this week has been a blurrrr ever since I went to the doctor and they told me I was dilated to a one, head down, baby has dropped and there really may be no reason to make a doctor appointment for next week. Wow, was not expecting that! I still have so much to do. I thought I had a good 14 or so days to get everything done. Which I may still have or I may have one day. And apparently my husband did as well since he has appointments booked all the way through the 16th! Are the chances of this baby coming early good, perhaps! Lunden came on the exact due date, but here we are 4th of July weekend thinking it could be our last weekend with just the three of us. Even though the clock is ticking faster and faster each day I have still managed to get a lot accomplished on very little sleep since the panic has kicked in.

Patio Finished
Backyard cleaned, swept, windows washed
Inside of the house spick and span (including all wood floors, someday I will write a blog on my wood floors)
Lunden is spending the day with Grammy and Papa!
Boys' room is all ready to go
All baby clothes are washed, hung, and organized by size and color.
Garage Cleaned
Car vacuumed and washed
All July bills paid early
Maternity pictures on Saturday scheduled, if we make it until then.
Grocery shopping is done for this weekend!
Bug guy will come and do his quarterly spray tomorrow.
All laundry finished in the house.
Guest room ready for MN visitors.

The only thing I need to do is pack my hospital bag. I have no idea why I haven't done that yet. Apparently I am contemplating giving my husband way to much power over my clothes selections.

So all in all I think I am ready to go, now this little peanut needs to appear. Oh and one minor detail...we need to decide on a NAME! I am having so much trouble this time around I can't even start to explain. My husband has pretty much settled, but I am still teetering on a few possible prospects. The faster these contractions are coming the more I think about what the heck we are going to name this little man.

This could be one of the last weekends with just the three bears! We are so excited to meet our new little man!

And to think this handsome little man could be a BIG BROTHER any time soon!

Airplane Action

2010-06-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you from Wichita this is a great place to bring your little kiddos for an early morning breakfast or a family evening out! Nick and I decided to bring Lunden to Stearman Field to eat dinner and watch the planes take off and land. It was a great suggestion from Lunden's buddy Wyatt. Lunden loves airplanes and had a blast! They have airplanes inside and outside, as well as lots of big screens playing airplane movies! Lunden actually ate his dinner and could not stop talking about the airplanes.

Although we did have a family moment when Lunden saw a really tall man walk through the door and yelled, "Wow BIG MAN." Yes, needless to say the restaurant was perfectly quite and everyone heard. Leave it to a 2 year old to break the silence!

Lunden flying his plane he carries around everywhere.

Nick and Lunden checking out the plane Lunden wanted to fly!

Yes, Lunden wanted to bring this one home!

Nick and Lunden taking a walk down the runway to check out the rest of the planes.

It was so hard to get Lunden to leave he cried part way home because he wanted to go back and see the airplanes. Maybe someday he will become a pilot just like Uncle Sam so he can fly mommy and daddy around the country, unless of course Nick becomes one first! With all the jet and airplanes magazines we get at the house you would think a pilot already lived in our home!

10/4 Over and Out!