What are you doing this summer??

This is what we are doing....

It's our summer fun list! I've seen this done in blog land for a couple years, but this is the first year I felt like the M's could appreciate it. At least M1 can. M1 thought of some pretty good things to do.

The complete list:

Go to the Zoo

Watch Fireworks

Ride a boat

Make a Tie Dye Shirt

See a parade

Go to the fair

Make homemade smores

have a cookout

Go to Kings Island

Go to World of Bounce

Visit the fire station

See a movie

Go to a festival

have a party

ride bikes

make homemade icees

fly a kite

go to the pool

shop at the flea market

see a baseball game

go on a walk

sleep in a tent

safety town

feed the ducks

VBS

ride a train

eat breakfast outside

drive remote control cars

make a lizard craft

go out for ice cream

sleep over at Mamaw & Papaw's

play with bubbles

play croquet

fly remote control plane

go on a truck ride

finger paint

play a soccer game in the backyard

eat popcorn

make an animal craft

have a picnic

go to Family Fun Night

School shopping

visit the library

run around outside

slip n slide

Go to Picnic w/ the Pops

catch lighting bugs

go to the horse races

swim lessons

eat food from our garden

go to the farmer's market

sidewalk chalk

have a potato sack race

start kindergarten

I hope we have time for everything! I'm worn out just thinking about it all!!

M1 meets a celebrity....

...of course he doesn't know he met a celebrity. This is M1 and his best buddy from preschool with Jack Hanna, the Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo. M1's preschool field trip was at the Zoo this morning and Jack Hanna was at the newly opened Polar Frontier. I was thrilled that we were able to get this picture. I still remember standing in line as a little girl awaiting a turn to meet Jack Hanna, probably over 20 years ago.
We love the zoo, and go often, Jack Hanna has done a lot of great things not only for our Zoo but with animal education on a national level.

So even though M1's first celebrity meeting might not have been overly memorable for him, it was for his Mommy. And that's all that really matters anyway, right?

It's that time of year.....

And this little guy is the graduate. He's graduating from Preschool. Anyone want to take bets on weather or not his Mommy cries?

Could he be any cuter? Look out ladies, he's headed for kindergarten. Assuming his Mommy lets him out the door come August.....

"Survivors That Surprise Even The Medical Staff"

Hello. I've missed you dear blog. I know I've been away from you for so long. I think of you often but somehow just can't think of anything to say.

It's funny, I thought of starting a blog for so long before I actually started it. And it took something meaningful in my life to start it. My first post was about how Thankful I was that we had moved to the house we live in now. So when THIS happened on Friday I felt it was meaningful enough to get me back to blogging. I can't guarantee how often I'll post but I will try to post as often as I can.

http://www.abc6onyourside.com/shared/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wsyx_vid_4333.shtml?sms_ss=email

Yes, that was the NICU that M2 spent the first 6 weeks of his life in, those are even some of the doctors that treated him. And that handsome little boy in the orange tshirt, that survivor that surprised even the medical staff; that's M2 the day his trach came out. If you look close enough he is even holding his trach in his right hand.

That story was on the news Friday Evening, Hubby and I spoke about M2 at the Neonatal Conference Friday Morning.

Yep, that was meaningful enough to get me back to blogging. I miss you blog, and of course, blog readers.

Merry Christmas!!

Ok, I know I suck as a blogger right now, but the last two months has been CRAZY!! I just wanted to share the M's Christmas picture. And look really close at M2's neck. See anything missing???

I'll post all the details next week after Christmas. For all who have checked in on me and my family lately, Thank You. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All.

Who knew it could walk??

Pneumonia that is. It walks. Did you know that? As in 3 of the 4 people in my house have walking pneumonia. M1 is getting better. I am still coughing up my lungs. M2, however is still having a hard time. He also has croup and an ear infection on top of his walking pneumonia. And as is his luck was back in the hospital last week because of all of his ailments. He is home and moving around now but still sick.

Maybe if we all get better I can get some things done around this house!

The Chicken and the Tiger

So I know I'm really late on the Halloween post, but if you read this post you would understand why.

Although I do think I had the cutest tricker-or-treaters in town, we didn't have that much fun this year. There were a lot of 'transplants' and most of them were way to old to be trick or treating.

We only skipped one street and the boys buckets didn't even get full. It seemed like every third house wasn't even passing out candy this year. The boys are to young to notice but Hubby and I noticed.

The boys had fun and they were cute as hell so I guess that's all that matters!

A Career Change

So, I'm a stay at home Mom now. Oh, did I forget to mention I quit my job? You knew that I hated my job, right? Yea, so I quit. Not like 'Oh hey Mr Boss Man, I'm going to give you a two week notice that I'm going to leave this fabulous company and stay at home with my beautiful boys'. No it was more like 'F#*@ You, here's my key!' Yea I literally cleaned out my desk and threw my key on my desk and walked out. Just call me a rebel. Mommy of Ms the rebel.
That's me. That is until the bills come rollin in, then you can call me terrified.

So forgive me for not blogging for what 3 weeks? I haven't figured out this stay-at-home mom-thing. I mean in my mind I thought I would have so much more time and would get so much more done, but that so isn't true. I have less time and get less done. I don't get it. When on earth do you blog?? Before I quit my job I blogged at work!

So anywho I have lots to post about, I just haven't figured out when to post. Bear with me while I figure out a time schedule. I'll probably figure it out right before I find a new job. Assuming I find a new job!!

Wordless Wednesday ~ No they are not twins

M1 is on the left!

Wordless Wednesday

Toy Story, a 3D movie. M1's first movie in a movie theatre.

For more WW check out 5 Minutes for Mom and Kati.

One of the best days of our lives

I know I haven't updated since we went to Cincinnati for little M2's Airway Reconstruction Surgery follow up. Life got in the way and I just haven't had time.

Hubby and M2 watching TV in pre-op.

Basically for the follow up he is taken back into the OR and a camera/scope is put into his mouth and down his airway to see if the surgery worked and how it is healing.

M2's reconstruction surgery was a complete success!! His trach was switched out in the OR to the smallest size possible and a cap has been put on the end of it forcing him to use his NEW airway!!

M2 in his room on the Complex Airway Unit after his followup procedure. He has a capped trach, and is eating his dinner while talking on his phone!!

They did keep him overnight to monitor him with his capped trach and he did GREAT!! We were discharged in less than 24 hours!!

Hubby and I were told in December that their was nothing the doctors could do for M2, that he would live his whole life with this trach. That wasn't good enough for us, so we found a new dr in Cincinnati. I completely broke down in the consultation room after we got the good news. I think the NP even started crying. It was Pure Joy.

M2 having M&M's (his favorite)

He has to go back for one more procedure, a swallow study. He has to do the procedure with his trach capped so the doctors can see how he does using his NEW airway. If all goes well from his swallow study he will be admitted and have his trach removed. He will be monitored for 48 hours and then will be sent home, TRACHLESS!! (Is that a word??) He was aspirating a good bit at first after the reconstruction surgery so I understand the need for the swallow study, although over the last 3-4 weeks he's been doing fine and not aspirating at all.
M2 is even starting to talk and babble as a 'normal' baby would. It is a FANTASTIC Sound! Thank you Dr Cotton, and the whole Cincinnati Team. You have truly changed our lives. And for that we will forever be grateful to you.

Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho, it's off to Cincinnati we go!

I know I haven't updated in a while since little M2's surgery, but he is doing just fine. After his surgery and stay in the Complex Airway Unit at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, he came home to recover. And did so, wonderfully. Dr Cotton had said after the surgery that he wanted to see M2 back in no less than 6 weeks, and true to their scheduling M2 is headed back to Cincinnati tomorrow morning, 6 weeks to the day of his Airway Reconstruction Surgery.

Waiting in Pre-Op for a new airway.
M2 had a bit of a hard time at first, having a new airway means learning how to breathe, eat, drink and talk all over again. He did fine with the breathing, and not to bad with the eating, but the drinking and talking was a different story. When we were discharged M2 hadn't even tried to form a word, let alone try to speak one. We were told that was normal and to let him heal, he would start talking again when he felt safe doing it. And true to their word, M2 started talking, laughing and even crying again about 1 1/2-2 weeks ago.
He came home on 'thickened' liquids, meaning we put Simply Thick into anything he drank so that he won't aspirate on his liquids. When he first starting drinking again (about 3 days after surgery) every time he took a drink it came back out of his trach. So when we first came home we were putting 2 packets of thickener in every cup of milk. We've slowly stepped it down aver the last 6 weeks, and last week he was back to drinking regular fluids with no aspirating!!!

Playing in his bed in the Complex Airway Unit after his airway surgery.

So tomorrow we are going back to Cincinnati, Dr Cotton will take M2 back into the OR put a scope down his airway and look around. If everything looks like it's healing well M2 will go to a room and his trach will be capped! Which basically means he will have to learn to breathe, eat, drink and talk again!!

Hubby buckling M2 into his car seat to come home after the last surgery. Do you see that he is clapping his hands??

If he can do all of those things and keep his oxygen stats up he will come home with a capped trach! Which means we are one more step closer to getting rid of the trach!!

So hopefully we are home by the weekend with a happy little boy with a capped trach and he can continue doing what he does best. Playing and bringing smiles to the faces of the people who love him!!

Howdy Ya'll, Welcome to the Farm!

The Birthday Boy, this is my favorite picture of him!!
M1 likes tractors. A lot. So it was no surprise when he decided he wanted a 'tractor party'. I tried to convince him that a pirate theme would be much more fun (I had visions of a treasure hunt, complete with treasure chest) he insisted that he did in fact want a tractor party. So the John Deere invitations were sent out, and the house took on a farm theme.

The guests were welcomed by a sign, hay bale and tractor. Along with pumpkins, mums, corn stalks and scarecrow (which will stay up and double as fall decorations).

The decorations were pretty simple, we sponsored alter flowers at church the morning of the party. I had called the florist to see if the arrangements could be all yellow, to keep with the green and yellow of the John Deere tractors. They were nice enough to oblige. Here's a picture of one of the arrangements and one of the decorated tables. I literally just put vegetables from the garden on the tables and buffet for decoration and it turned out great (and cheap)!!

Keeping with the farm theme, I made a farm cake..

Close up or the barn...

I thought I had taken a picture of the buffet table but I guess not. We served hamburgers and hot dogs, pasta salad, cheese and crackers, chips, pretzels and dip and watermelon. It was a hit!

Thank goodness it was such a nice afternoon (Sept 13, I'm a little behind posting) and most of the party took place outside.

These two are going to worry me when they grow up...

M1 and all the presents...

Ready for cake and ice cream....

I the 'tractor party' turned out pretty good. The decorations were beyond easy, and cheap!!

My NEW Mudroom

I've always wanted a Mud Room. When we decided to move last year, we didn't want to have to move again until the boys had left and we needed to downsize. And as with most people we had a LIST of stuff we wanted in our new house. A mud room was on my list, so was a craft room (I had one in the old house). However when we got an offer on our old house it was Jan 1, and we had to be packed and moved by Feb 9, and little M2 was due in March! Leaving not a lot of time for searching.

The moment we walked into our house I was instantly in love. It was exactly what I wanted. Except it didn't have a mudroom (or a craft room but that's another story).

After living there for a couple months I quickly decided that the first floor laundry "room" was not going to work out. And my mind started spinning. Hubby agreed that it wasn't working and told me to figure out what I wanted. I wanted a mudroom. But the laundry "room" was off the kitchen, and the door to the garage was around the corner by the front door. So Hubby and my Dad did what any good Do-It-Yourselfer would do. They moved our garage door to the laundry "room" instantly creating a Mudd Room!!

The room is a weird shape, kind if line an oblong triangle. I drew a picture of what I wanted and Viola! Hubby built me a mudroom!

That's the garage door to the right. My washer was where the 'built in' is and the dryer was where the door is. It was a tiny and cramped space. The washer and dryer have been moved to the basement. Right now it's an unfinished basement. But I'm sure that will change too!

Each family member has their own hook above the bench, Hubby also added an extra hook 'for guests'. Although I'm glad there is a hook for our guests I'm pretty sure that was a hint that he wants another M.

The built in is stocked full of baskets and is a great overflow for things from the pantry and the kitchen!

Here's a close up of one of the M's hooks. We bought a standard black hook from the hardware store and then I bought letters from the craft store and painted them black with polka dots. Just a fun little touch.

This is also where my key hook hangs, it all ties together pretty well. I think my Dad and Hubby did a great job in a very small space! Now if we could just get the garage cleaned out enough that we could park in it and actually use the mudroom that would be great!

Not me!

It's Not Me Monday!!

I did not change M2's poopy diaper on a bail of hay Saturday nite with nothing under him. I would never do that, I always change him on appropriate places like a changing table and laying on a changing pad!

We did not swing through McDonald's drive thru on Saturday afternoon and let the boys eat Happy Meals in their carseats so that we could save travel time by not stopping.

I did not complain to a store manager this weekend about how incredibly rude one of the workers at the store was to both me and her co-workers. That store manager did not in turn tell me that the worker was already on her way out and then proceed to fire her. I also did not get a very pretty fall flower arrangement from the store for my troubles!

I did not ask Hubby to dig out the Halloween tubs last night 'just in case' I want to look through them this weekend!

What did you not do this week?