I put a lot of effort into this each year.  Thinking about what we’ll all wear, then going out to shop for it.  This year we set our tree up the day after Thanksgiving because my dad was in town, so I thought we’d take advantage of him and make him take some pictures of us with hope one would work for this years Christmas card.

Here’s what we ended up with :

It seems I have no sense of “timing” .  Emma was over it before I even got her hair brushed , Andrew was pissed at his argyle sweater and Josh was annoyed at the kids for being annoyed with the process.  Me ~ well, I’m a mom. So I had no trouble ignoring them all !  Yep, that’s a smile that says Merry &  Bright.

Because my own mom was cursed with a syndrome I like to call ” The Little Miss Sunshine Disease”,  she failed to see the humor in this photo.  “The kids aren’t smiling”.  Which in her mind = happiness.  And because I still fall for her MIND TRAPS, I took them to the  mall and they took this :

I was a little sad that one of them wasn’t freaked out and crying !  I LOVE those pictures.  But this is cute too !!

And because I’m taking the time to actually write in my blog, here’s a pic of the kids from last year …  look how tiny Andrew was:

Amazing the difference a year can make

Merry Christmas !

Andrew !  Your 1 today …  it’s so crazy because on one hand it doesn’t seem possible that you could only be turning 1, last year was filled with a lifetime’s worth of heartache and fear, and on the other I’m like “Wow. How is it possible my baby is turning 1″ ?!?

I was SO excited when I found out I was pregnant with you!  And that you were a boy … ah, even better ! One of each , our little family complete.  Of course those feelings of excitement quickly turned to panic as we learned you were in distress.  I never once. Imagined. That it was going to require 2 fetal surgeries  just to get you here. That you’d spend your first 4 weeks in the NICUor that you’d ultimately end up on dialysis in order to survive.

And yet here you are … completely unfazed  by the dialysis tube  hanging out of your body. Crawling, cruising, bugging your sister, reeking havoc on our house and I couldn’t be happier!

I am SO GRATEFUL for your precious life.  I couldn’t begin to tell you how much I love you, or how lost I’d be without you. Your courage, strength and determination inspire me daily.  I couldn’t be more proud!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!

Andrew has an artificial opening in his stomach where his Dialysis tube exits his body :

 We go out of our way to keep it protected, we have to.  Our nurses call it his “life line”, which sounds so dramatic, but essentially it’s what it is. So as you can imagine we have “RULES”  to follow as far as keeping it clean and sterile.  Like, we change the dressing everyday. First we clean the area using betadine swab sticks, apply some gentamicin cream, two 2×2 gauze pads and then cover it all with tegaderm.  He wears an elastic mesh belt thing around his waist to keep his “tube” close to his body so that it doesn’t get tugged or dirty and he’s NOT allowed to be submerged in water.  Like he can’t take a bath ( he showers !) or go in a pool, lake or ocean.

We had a freakishly HOT weekend. Like 96 degrees and we don’t have air conditioning  … most homes in our area don’t because we live near the coast. It’s not suppose to be that HOT.  So we were forced really to bust out the slip n slide.  And Andrew LOVED it !

I totally justified this.  He was in moving water, his tube was covered and it was only for like 10 minutes at most.  And I obviously changed his bandage the minute he was done.  He had the BEST time ! He was laughing and smiling and splashing …   for those short 10 minutes he wasn’t a baby with kidney disease on dialysis.  He was just a boy enjoying his day

And for THAT, I’d break the “rules” again!

Sooo, when I started this here blog, I had nothing but time.  I was in the middle of my VERY HIGH  RISK pregnancy and after my first fetal surgery , I was ordered to bed rest.  I had moved out of my own house and in with my dad to be closer to the hospital and my doctors ,  which meant no husband or daughter or any sort of responsibility or distraction.  I was able to lay in bed and blog about my weekly doctor visits and anything else that popped into my head.

Since having my Miracle child,  life has been busy to say the least.  And so my blog suffers …   Believe me it isn’t for a lack of things to write about, I just can’t find the time to do it.  And when I do sit down to write, a million other things have happened and I can’t decide which I should share, so as I sit and ponder my eyes roam around the room and I notice things like :

*water rings on my glass table top that need to be cleaned NOW

*Dust on the media table thingy, that I’ll dust while I’m up

*Toys, toys  EVERYWHERE toys ! I’ll just pick them up really quick

And before long, my blog is the last thing on my mind.  It’s a disease, I know … but I can’t help it.  I cannot function when things are unorganized and out of place.   I can’t sleep if there are dishes in the sink , I can’t blog if the house is a mess.

We drove to Santa Barbara recently to take Andrew to his routine cardiology appointment and while we were there decided to take the kids to the Natural History Museum to see the Butterflies Alive exhibit ! A day of multi-tasking really !

I myself am a butterfly FANATIC !  I love everything about them … so much that Josh and I released them at our wedding !  40 live monarchs … it was magical !

Emma loves them too !   After a million times of asking if she could take her own pictures, we finally gave in. I think we may actually have a little photographer on our hands !  I know I’m probably a bit biased, but I think the girl has some mad skillz !

So the husband had a vasectomy today … YAY right !   The only bummer is that he’ll be home all week. ALL week.  Just lying around needing things, like a helpless manbaby.  I love my hubby, I do , and normally I’d be excited to have him home during the week doing chores and yard work or stuff with the kids … but he’s just here. Leaving lint on the couch and crumbs in the bed.

Men. Definitely the weaker sex by far !  Except my little monkey of course , he’s the toughest little guy I know ! Never squawks or complains about the many surgeries he’s had … check him out :

This was his second surgery in three weeks, to have his dialysis tube replaced. He hadn’t eaten in like 13  hours at this point and he was  still happy and in a good mood !   He’s SUPER BABY !!! Versus daddy, who is acting super baby-ish !!! 

Speaking of which, the daddy needs his peas !!

In the short time it took me to pee … this happened :

Attack of the BIG SISTER  !!  Poor guy … I’m positive it’s just the beginning of many things to come !

It’s recently dawned on me that I rarely mention my first born.  I’m not sure why really … she’s actually pretty hilarious when she’s not in time out. 

 One of these days I’ll make a ” kids say the darnedest things” bullet list of all the CRAZY crap that’s come out of her mouth !

Hard to imagine that it was only a few months ago I was wondering if I’d even be bringing a baby home … all the worry and heart ache. Feels like a life time ago …   

ME !!!!!

I must admit, I was having my doubts … but after enough calling and complaining and finding the right contact ( THANK YOU Jescha McIntosh  ~ I LOVE YOU )  my bill has been PAID !!!!!!!!!!!!!!     

This mama, is doin a dam HAPPY dance across the kitchen floor  …

And BTW … I feel like I should mention how awesome I think the Air Force is.  They’ve been really good to us. My biggest complaint is about the random claims representative you get on the phone …  I mean surely we aren’t the first family in the history of the Air Force to have a special needs child, MUST we recreate the freak’n wheel EVERYTIME I call ?!?!?

 sheesh.