weekends are the best

sweater weather + a saturday = a family zoo trip, which also = heaven for these boys and exhaustion for their parents

We thought we could go without a stroller, because there was one of each of us for the kids.

but we had to skip B's nap, and he went from full speed sprint to crawling on the ground to sprint again. It's hard enough for little boys to listen when they are rested and happy, but napless and happy.... the stroller is coming next time.

look close and you will see Bo trying to lick Kelly's ear.

he picked that up from 101 dalmatians, and surprises us with it just often enough.

There's nothing like having a little boy sneak up on you and lick your ear.

I love this family.

3

this is my boy and I just love him.

My sweet Jelly Bean turned 3 years old.

This is unreal.

He went from being a dream, a hope, a prayer, to a babe carried by our S, to a baby in our own arms, to a toddler, and now a little boy. He is the most wonderful journey.

His birthday was a conference Sunday, we stayed in and tried to do things he would enjoy.

We introduced him to cinnamon rolls. He doesn't care to try new foods, regardless of how delicious they appear. So we had to tell him it was cinnamon birthday cake with frosting. His horrified response? "But I want chocolate cake!" Good thing I waited to bake that planned vanilla cake. After convincing him he gets two cakes today, he dared to try the cinnamon rolls and enjoyed them.

We continued our little tradition of the birthday boy giving a small gift, to celebrate and show gratitude for their relationships. He handed out bubbles to just a few of his friends who were home, just enough to get the point across to him that his birthday is not all about him getting things. He really like it.

Party hats this year were cowboy hats from our most recent farm trip.

He loved to rip open the presents.
My favorite present to get him this year was a book I made for him "The Day You Were Born"
A very simple story, maybe I'll share parts of it.

We played outside in perfect weather.

Every year I have gotten him a radio flyer. His first year was a wagon, his second a scooter, and this year was a tricycle. I'm so glad it fit. He's slowly getting the hang of pedals.

We ate pizza dinner outside at his request. With G's new lift on soy he was even able to try a soy pizza made with soy cheese. Poor guy still knew it wasn't the same thing we were eating though (and it may or may not have given him a horrible night).

The wind picked up that afternoon and tried to blow out his candles, but between Kelly and our good neighbor Trent, they had them lit long enough for Bo to blow them out.

Yep, that cake is absolutely G-Friendly

Later that night, my parents came over and we sang happy birthday all over again. Bo loved it, he sang right along. Then when my camera wasn't working and I had to adjust a setting, I asked if we could do it again. Bo was more than excited to, he had been singing happy birthday to himself all day and having everyone sing along with him was heaven.

Oh how I love him.

bushwhacker

Last weekend Kelly and I went to his dental school prom.
Bushwhacker,
Mandiball,
or something like that.
It was Prom.

It was held at the Uptown, a good choice, that place is beautiful. So many of his friends were there, I really like most of them. It was fun to visit with everyone, and I'm sad that in just a few weeks we will say long goodbyes. We had dinner and a few short videos were shown. Kelly helped with the videos, one of them was a hilarious dental school version of thrift shop, and we all got to hear Kelly rap, it was amazing. There was dancing, a dessert room, and a photo booth. Even though the place was crowded with so many people we knew, it still felt like a private date between me and Kelly for much of it. It's been a long time since Kelly and I have been on a date like this.

I love this man.

allergist update

Cute boy had an appointment with the allergist. A different doctor than last time (which is a very good thing). He was retested. The good news is his peanut and soy scores looked fantastically low (yay!) So the plan is to try to introduce those things one at a time for two weeks and see how he does. The bad news is his chicken, eggs, and dairy, were obscenely high (boo!) and she encouraged me to keep the epi nearby always. She was very surprised about the chicken, that's a weird one for anyone to be allergic to. 

We tried to introduce soy on Sunday. He ate a few bites  of pizza with soy cheese. Then he was up all night crying. So we gave him a break on Monday and he slept just fine. On Tuesday we tried again, and he only ate a few bites again. He was up crying all night. So now we are taking a break for a couple weeks before we try again. I just want to make sure it's not a coincidence.  Then we will try peanuts later. 

*sigh*

In good news he is finally drinking his Elecare. That nasty stuff gets him the nutrients he misses out on by not eating his allergens. So Yay G! 

our crabby happy Easter

I stayed up far too late on Easter eve, finishing up a couple neckties for the boys.

I really thought that I was thiiiis close to having them done,

I didn't realize it would be just after 4am when I finally went to bed.

Staying up so late destroyed my idea of a simple Easter, but I kept it small by just having the ties, a chocolate bunny, cheap water guns, and bunny ears in the baskets.

Sweet G isn't sleeping well lately (hands up who's surprised?) so Kelly got up early with the boys and I slept in til 7:30.

Our morning was not exactly a picture perfect Easter morning.

It was a mess.

Everything was a mess.

So much a mess, that we were at church for only 20 minutes before we left and just went home. (thankfully we were there for the most important 20 minutes)

All four of us were not at our best.

But oh how lucky I am to have all four of us, in any condition.

Here are some of the wonderful things that went right.

Most important, we talked about the resurrection.

Here's how our conversation with our almost-3-year-old went.

Us: "Jesus died and his friends were so sad, they missed him so much. His friends put his body in his special cave and rolled the big rock in front of it. After three days, Jesus was resurrected and was alive again! Yay! His friends were so happy! And because Jesus was resurrected after he died, after we die we can be resurrected too! Yay!"

Jelly Bean: "Yay! Now I can die!"

We retold the resurrection story the rest of the day, adding a little more each time, and each time Boston filled in part of the story he had learned the time before. In the days after Easter I asked him about it and he remembered the story well.

thanks to a kind neighbor for giving me a bunny mold, I made a chocolate bunny for Sweet G. He was able to enjoy the same treat as his brother. It was priceless.

We had a little egg hunt in our backyard.

We went to my parent's home for dinner.

The weather was perfect all day.

This little family, all at our wits end, is my little family.

And while we are feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, moody, and frustrated, I still feel the joy as strong as it ever was.

This is my little family

my crazy dramatic funny little family.

and I am the luckiest.

egg hunt

our little townhouse neighborhood held an Easter egg hunt.

Bo understood what was going on and he loved it.

he seemed to think every egg had been left there just for him.
he is convinced his easter basket is a turtle, and definitely not a dinosaur.

G wasn't too into collecting the eggs, but he was happy to be outside, despite the chill.

biopsy results

G's biopsies came back negative.

it's a good thing that he doesn't have anything serious they tested him for.

but it's frustrating.

So we've been told to keep taking the meds that are keeping him pain & vomit free for the next 3 months, then we will try something else.

but we are moving across the country in just over 2 months away from a fantastic children's hospital and toward a very small town.

It just feels so unresolved.

Best case scenario - pray for a little miracle and hope his issues just disappear on their own.

It could happen, right?