My husband, the OLYMPIC TRIATHLETE!

Yeah, he’s pretty much AWESOME! Rich completed his 1st Olympic Triathlon which is a 1 mile swim, 24 mile bike ride and a 6 mile run. WOW! I was so sad that I wasn’t able to be there to watch him complete his triathlon but 4:30am is just too early to get the kiddos up and out the door.  When he got home I got the whole story and let’s just say it was rough. It was soooo hot today and he said that the heat was his biggest obstacle. The energy and the heart were there but the heat was just unbearable. He also twisted his ankle at the very beginning of his run but was able to run off the pain. He’s just amazing! Can you tell I’m proud?

So, since I’m on the subject I think my man is long overdue some praise. What can I say, he’s the best. He has a heart of gold. I can’t even count the number of hours of service he has given since we’ve been in Florida. No matter how busy he is with school and family he is always willing to help people out with their computer problems. He’s made tons of house calls and never expects anything in return. He’s such a dedicated and determined person. He has a 92% GPA! That is incredible! No matter how much studying he has to do he always helps me get the kids to bed and makes sure he spends enough time with them. He is ALWAYS there when I need him. He motivates me to be a better person. Now, now ladies, don’t get too jealous. I didn’t find the PERFECT guy…but he’s pretty dang close!I love him!

Happy 2nd Birthday Maya!

 

This is my big girl on her 2nd birthday. I just can’t believe that she is already 2! For her birthday we took her to Dairy Queen. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, with Aidan’s surgery and all so we have had to postpone their birthday celebration. We sure did have a good time though.

Maya @ 2 years old:

*Talks a lot! Can’t always understand what she is saying but she really tries.

*Immediately undoes any hairdo.

*Loves her baby sister. She does the cutest things like pushing Arabella’s hair out of her face & giving her toys to play with when she is crying.

*Favorite tv show: Sesame Street. She can name every character!

*She knows some of her colors and most of her shapes.

*She loves dancing!

*I love how soft spoken she is.

*Definitely developing strong likes and dislikes.

*LOVES to read. Sometimes she just sits in her room reading.

*She is in a big girl bed! She’s been in it for a couple weeks and has done great. Falls asleep by the door sometimes but for the most part in her bed. Such a big girl.

*100% mommas girl. She has to sit on my lap for prayers.

FUN, FUN, FUN! Maya is just so happy and fun to be around. She has the sweetest demeanor. I love my little 2 year old!

The big MUAH! after the birthday kiss:D

Aidan’s surgery result

It’s been 1 weeks since Aidan’s surgery to repair his g-tube hole and he is doing GREAT! We went in last friday morning at 8am and waited for 3 hours.

He went in at 11am and the surgery took about an hour and a half. It was a lot longer than I had expected. I was so anxious for them to call me back to the recovery room to see him. When they did he was just coming out of the anesthesia and that is when it got rough. They were holding oxygen up to his face and he was really struggling to breathe. I tried to stay pretty calm until the doctor started showing concern. She said to one of the nurses that she was worried that because of his vocal cord paralysis history that being intubated for the surgery may have damaged his cords again. There was even talk of admitting him to the Pediatric ICU.  That is when I really started to panic. All of these horrible thoughts started flooding my mind. What if he had to get a trach again? Why didn’t I think about the fact that they would be intubating him? I was so mad at myself and mad at them for not thinking of the risk.

 

For 2 hours Aidan stuggled to breathe. He would scream and it sounded like a whisper. It took me back to when he was a baby before he got the trach. They would extubate him to see if he could breathe on his own. He would struggle to suck in air and the sound he would make just broke my heart. For hours he would work for every breath. I would just sit there watching him, crying. Until finally they would intubate him again because he just couldn’t do it anymore. I went through the same thing with Arabella. It is an incredibly difficult thing to see your baby fight to breathe and here I was watching him go through the same thing again. I was a MESS! I tried not to cry but I couldn’t hold it in. I burst out crying while lying in his bed holding him with one arm and holding oxygen to his face with the other. He finally calmed down and fell asleep. After 1 hour he was able to breathe without the oxygen and maintain an oxygen saturation of 93-95%. After 2 hours his oxygen saturation was at a 97%. It improved with time and the struggle ended. I can’t describe the RELIEF I felt. I was the happiest person on earth.

 

Then there was the recovery from the surgery. 3 days in the hospital. Bleh!

He couldn’t drink anything the first 2 days but he really didn’t seem to mind too much. He slept most of the time. Thank you morphine. The morning of the 3rd day he woke up and the very first thing he said was, “Mommy, I want to play!” He went from morphine to just Tylenol and he only took it 3 times! He’s amazing!

Pics of his first drink in 2 days and then a yummy popsicle.

He made a full recovery and we were ready to go home sunday night.

My child is naked because he refused to wear the hospital gown. Stinker.

The surgery didn’t slow him down one bit. He has been running and jumping like nothing happened. Thanks to everybody for the many thoughts and prayers.

Another surgery for Aidan

Tomorrow morning Aidan will be having yet ANOTHER surgery. This one should definitely be the last one. The procedure is technically called a closure of the GE fistula which basically means they are going to close up his g-tube hole. For a little bit of background info about Aidan’s g-tube click HERE and you can read about the g-tube removal surgery.

So here is the low-down on why he has to have the surgery over a year later. When they remove a g-tube, over 90% of the time it will heal on it’s own. Obviously, my little family loves to beat the odds so Aidan’s didn’t heal. We kept telling the g-tube doctor that it was still leaking and he didn’t listen to us. He said it’s normal and it’ll take a long time to heal. It’s been almost 2 years. It doesn’t leak any more but it didn’t heal properly. It looks a little raw and is always moist.

My poor little guy calls it his “owie”. I’m sure it doesn’t feel too good. So here is exactly what they are going to do. When they put the g-tube in they connected his stomach to his inside wall in order for us to be able to feed him through it. Well, guess what…it’s still attached. Now they need to go in and detach his stomach and close it up and then stitch up this hole.

He’s gonna have to spend a couple of days in the hospital. I’m always so nervous going into surgeries. I guess that’s normal, right? The great news is that this will be his last surgery!!!! Thank goodness for that! My little man is such a stud, I’m sure he’ll recover quickly and be back to hauling Maya around on the double tricycle in no time. Wish us luck and say a little prayer for Aidan too;)

Here’s a video of Aidan bug talking about his surgery tomorrow.

Disney Round 2

Yes, we are crazy. We love to punish ourselves by going to amusement parks with our 3 little ones. Let’s be honest, its a lot of work and it can, at times, feel like punishment but we do have tons of fun and make lots of memories:D

Here are some highlights:

Rich found this great deal and we got to stay in an amazing condo right outside of Disney. We took our projector, bought some junk food and had awesome movie nights both nights we were there.

Day 1: Magic Kingdom

It was beautiful with all of the fall decor.

We did all there is to do there…took the classic Disney World picture, watched the shows

 

Explored Toon Town

Watched some 3-D shows

Hung out by a fence, waiting for the ducks to come play:D

Day 2: Epcot!!

I don’t know why I’ve heard my whole life that Epcot is the most boring park of all of the Disney parks. I TOTALLY DISAGREE! It is by far our favorite park! We had so much fun there and just didn’t have enough time to soak in all of the goodness the park has to offer. Rich and I loved it. The kids loved it. We can’t wait to go back. I have lots of great pictures but this post is going to take me all night to finish if I don’t start cutting down on the pics. More highlights!

We visited a bunch of little shows and rides and then we went to the aquarium where we talked to Crush, the turtle from Finding Nemo. He was hilarious! We rode the Nemo ride then saw the most amazing aquarium ever. We could have spent all day there because…

We needed to go to MEXICO!!!

And CHINA!

We managed to swing by lots of countries but ran out of picture taking time. Can’t wait to go back!

Gotta throw in a couple of cute bonus pics.

                                             

Making a change

Last Saturday night I was doing my usual thing, just chillin’ and reading blogs and stuff. Then, I came across a blog that really touched me and made me realize that I need to make a change in my life. Click here to see the blog. It’s about a young mom that just 2 months ago lost her 18 month old daughter. I was literally sobbing while reading this blog. The thing that touched me the most was the faith of this woman. She was so strengthened by the gospel and the knowledge that families are forever.

Life brings challenges and trials. I know I’ve had my share and I’m sure there are more to come. When they do come I want to have the peace and strength that comes with a knowledge of spiritual truths. This is why I’ve decided that I need to make a change. I’ve decided that what I need in my life right now is a challenge. I have committed to reading The Book of Mormon by January 1st and I’ve invited anybody who would like to join me to do so. I’ve been reading for 5 days now and I’m feeling a change within myself. I’m so excited to meet this goal and to set other personal goals to make me a better wife and mother.

I’m extending this invitation to you! Let’s read The Book of Mormon by January 1st, 5 pages a day, 114 days! If you don’t have a copy just message me and I’ll send you one. I know that it’ll bring peace to our lives when those trials come.

Weeks in review...

So, a couple of weeks have gone by and I just wanted to post a few pics of our little everyday happenings:D A couple Sunday's ago we had some friends over for dinner. It was sooooo delicious! We had a yummy pot roast and they brought some homemade braided bread.

Then we had a bunch of fresh fruit with our chocolate fondue. It was so good that Rich ordered a fondue warmer for next time. Sean looks ticked in this pic.

Later that night I was on the couch just relaxing and my two snuggle bugs came and cuddled with me. I love them so much!

I just can't believe how fast they are growing! I love it but at the same time it makes me sad:( These moments are priceless...

I'm not gonna lie, it's hard having 3 this close in age but there are definitely moments that make it worth it. This is one of them.

Friday night we went to the planetarium in Miami to watch a laser show. Rich was so excited to take Aidan because he just knew he would love it. He was right! Both Aidan and Maya sat and watched the whole thing and absolutely LOVED IT! Today was a great Sunday. We just chilled, had dinner and then went for a walk. We still love the double tricycle and use it almost every day.

Aidan & Arabella having a snack in front of the TV. I've noticed I have lots of pics of my kids watching TV. They really don't watch that much but that's one of the only times that there is peace long enough for me to grab the camera. Haha!

Arabella was sitting in front of her little superstar playing and Aidan came up behind her and started moving her around like she was dancing. Watching them interact with each other is the best.

That's it for these past two weeks. Many more weeks to come:D