Christmas 2013

Start of our Christmas break- Preston pointing to Ronnie…..I swear he remembered him LOL 

We had a very low key Christmas this year and it was our first Christmas for 2 occasions. We delivered 59 gifts to the KC RMH. Each family staying in both houses received a satin hands hand cream and satin lips lip balm from tons of donations I received. We also gifts for the volunteers. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to each of you who donated. I got a got today thanking me for the donations and specifically thanking me for the items we donated due to the cold weather and dry hospital air causing chapped hands and lips. It make me tear up! Tim and I plan to do this every year and I can't wait for the boys to be old enough to really understand what RMH has done for us and what we will continue to give back to others who need their services. We also had the chance this year to take the boys to both sets of Grandparents houses to open gifts and celebrate on Christmas day. Last year everyone came to us. Tim kicked off the holiday by heading to church for candle lit service alone :( I miss going to this service each year and can't wait to take the boys! We celebrated first thing in the morning at our home letting the boys play with 'Santa' gifts and open up stockings. Then we headed straight to Grandma and Grandpa Walker's house in our jammies to eat strada/cinnamon rolls/yummy breads for breakfast and see what Santa brought to their house too! We stayed all day while the boys played with their new toys, napped, we showered and headed to my folks house for Christmas dinner and more gifts! It is so nice our parents only live 10 min apart! The boys got spoiled and we enjoyed family time. We had a great day and had an early morning ahead of the next day to finalize P's ear surgeries with surgery #3. 5:30am check in time is no fun. It's over (as I type this on Dec 30th) and we are DONE DONE DONE with his ear surgeries! Hallelujah! He will still have his hearing aid and eventually maybe a baja implanted but that is down the road and nothing to be too concerned about. His hearing is AWESOME even with unilateral hearing loss. This was more for cosmetic/functional purposes (some work was done on the left ear after all). Our clinic follow up appt is this Friday and then we will say good-bye to Dr. Andrews for a long time. He has offered to do plastic surgery on P's neck once decannulated to make his neck look as if nothing ever happened. I said YES PLEASE! So i am excited about that. After all, it only seems fitting that the dr who gave him his trach can 'finish the job' whenever that will be. He truly had a vested interested in Preston and us and for that, we are grateful. I think its safe to say this Christmas was fantastic. We are blessed! We hope you had a wonderful and meaningful holiday and may 2014 bring you happiness and joy! Here are some pics to highlight the holiday. I didn't get as many as i thought because I was soaking up being in the moment this year! :)

We were given a tour of the KC RMH home. They had a fish tank the boys LOVED!

Christmas morning with my lovies…..none of us were awake yet!

Trying to get a family pic….P was especially excited to open gifts. I passed on cute Christmas outfits this year….I went for comfy and casual since we did 3 Christmas's in 1 day! 

Attempt #2 was much better :)

My dad took this of me after all the presents were opened, dinner was over, and the kids were in jammies. I was SO happy to finally sit for the 1st time all day :)

Thanksgiving and MU game 2013

So thankful we don't have to travel for the holidays! Thanksgiving day was spent at my parents house this year. We had a wonderful dinner once the boys woke up from their naps. We headed to Tim's parent's house the next day for dinner. Reid spent the weekend at their house and we took advantage of respite days for Preston and had 24 hour care from Jess and Amy so we could take off to Columbia for the weekend to see MU kick butt! VERY MUCH ALONE TIME NEEDED for us. The weather was perfect too!

Headed to Grandma and Grandpa Preston's house for Thanksgiving

This poor kid got his hair brushed and it looks like 1980's hair style

Love that my sister and I get to spend every holiday together

This little boy sure LOVES his Grandpa

Playing under the desk to end the night

Great end to the holiday weekend! 

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my boys! 

This post is late but wanted to capture the boys 2nd 'train theme' birthday. We did Thomas the train but with the boys interests changing so fast, I would have done a 'tools' theme for Reid and 'fireman Sam' theme for Preston if i hadn't already planned Thomas in advance. They didn't care- they just loved the donut holes I got for their party. My mom made their cake again like last year. It is made from scratch and DELISH! It is going to be a tradition to have pumpkin cake each year since their B-day is in November and we plan to have a cake for each of them with their own theme as they get old enough to pick and say what they want. Here are some pictures from their actual birth day and party.  So cliche but time is flying….its like sand slipping thru my fingers and I just want to freeze time. But as soon as I say that, they learn something new or say a new word (Reid) or learn a new sign (Preston) and then I can't imagine not celebrating these milestones. They have become very close and want to do most things together. Reid says 'bruder' for brother and Preston signs Reid name 24/7. They get upset if one wakes up from nap or in the morning before the other one. They want to go and open the other's door to wake them up. Pretty cute! Glad they have each other as buddies for life:)

Birthday Breakfast

Yay for turning 2! 

Birthday SELFIE

The boys buddy….Jess! The best day nurse we could have ever asked for! 

Happy 2nd Birthday to my little snuggle bunny. P likes to sit in anyone's lap he can find. He is my snuggler every evening from 6-7. Doesn't leave my lap. 

This kid is full of SILLY :)

Happy 2nd Birthday to my Reidy. This pic was taken in my office which is so fitting for Reid because he is definitely my little working buddy. Anytime I am in there working, I can always count on him to find me and 'help' in any way! Total perk of working from home! 

Off to the dr for their 2 year check up. They are both almost 30lbs and got a clean bill of health! KU Medical Home is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G- nothing like having top notch NICU dr.'s as your kids pediatricians till they are 5 years old! We lucked out for sure! Plus, we got to see our 2 fav KU nurses that day! We took them holiday cookies and a holiday plate! :)

Preston sure loves Alex- went right to her for some love- she was P's primary night nurse in the KU NICU once he was transferred and she was a total blessing. Thankful she has become a close friend of mine too! 

If it weren't for Liz, I would have never felt equipped to take Preston home. She was P's primary day nurse and fell in LOVE with him and in turn, we fell in love with her. She is a very special friend! 

Turning 2 is tiring. Had to take a pic of him cuddling with his bear that night. Too sweet! 

Thought it would be fun to add pictures of their birth to see how far we have come. Hard to see P without his trache. He was born a fighter!

Preston (baby B) hours old 

Reid (baby A)- first born and only a few hours old

Let the party begin

Poor GG- she always wants to get a hug from the boys and a picture and they NEVER cooperate. We tried! 

Pumpkin Cake

Today we closed the chapter to P's 'ear journey'

Tim and I are smiling from ear to ear today as we closed the final chapter to P's ear surgeries! He looks pretty rough and has a lot of pain but should bounce back like he always does. Dr Andrews is simply amazing. I plan to post a before picture at the start of Preston's ear surgeries and once the swelling is down, we will post a good after pic to compare. Dr A actually gave P some lipo suction (hence the little scab on his temple) to fill in the dimpled and rough skin next to his ear. P also got a cool hair buzz :/ Unfortunately his cheeks did like the tape they used to shut his eyes during the procedure so we will work on getting the rash to subside this week. Our clinic follow up is next Friday and then we should be HOME FREE!!! We are BEYOND excited! This is our 3rd holiday break spent in the hospital with Mr P since he was born and 4:30am wake up calls are no fun after a BUSY Christmas Day. Next year we will cherish being home and the boys can play with their toys all day together and maybe they will even sleep in LOL :) Reid is having a fun filled day with Grandma and Grandpa Walker and we are so fortunate for all of their help with him so we can focus on Preston. My sister in law is bringing us dinner tonight which will be wonderful and we should be headed home tomorrow. More rest for all of us is needed as Tim and I both woke up with colds today. Just glad we don't have to worry about working right now and we can take care of P and ourselves. We hope everyone had a great Christmas yesterday.......Santa came and spoiled the boys rotten!! Thank you for the well wishes and prayers as today went GREAT! :)

Halloween

This year was so different than last year trick or treating with the boys! They went as Milk and a Cookie thanks to my sweet friend, Hilary, who made them and passed down the costumes from her twins last year. It worked out GREAT and they were a huge hit! Reid was so proud of himself to wear his costume and P tore his cookie off instantly. So it took some convincing but we managed. We made our rounds on Thursday to Dada's work and got to see other kids in costumes, play in his classroom, and show off a little. We try to visit Tim every now and then for a little field trip. I didn't realize the boys knew where we were until we pulled in the parking lot and Reid said, "Dada"….i couldn't believe it! Then we paid Grandpa Walker a visit at work. Everyone at the bank loved them. They even got cup cakes! After naps, we headed to a trunk or treat with my sister, brother in law, parents, and the boys cousins. They actually got the concept of taking the candy and putting it in their bucket. We decided to hit up her neighborhood afterwards and the boys had fun chasing their cousins to the doors and running in the yards. This age is TOO fun and precious. It was a fun day to remember!

Did a dry run at costumes the day before. 

So proud of himself to have his costume on

Get this OFF me

Coloring our pumpkin

P really got into it

Visiting Dada at work

The big halls were scary......I love this picture because I see the look on Tim's face and I am so grateful he LOVES being such an involved dad! 

This picture says it all when we go into Tim's classroom....pure JOY! 

Busy at Dada's desk

Fun visiting Grandpa at the bank

Splurging on cupcakes

Trunk or Treating

We didn't realize we were going to match. Our mom bought us these shirts a few seasons back and we both had it on when we arrived to trunk or treat! I just love that my sister and I can raise our kiddos together and they are all 2 years apart! SO FUN! 

Reid giving it a shot!