A Quick Trip to Texas

We recently took a family road trip down to San Antonio, TX.  Erik goes to an annual football convention and this year it was in good ‘ol San Antonio.  It just so happens that I lived in San Antonio for a few years and the company I work for is based there.  I think Erik knew that once he told me that conference was going to be in San Antonio the boys and I would be joining him. 

We decided to drive through the night so the boys would sleep most of the way there.  I crossed my fingers and said a lot of prayers and it all paid off – they slept the majority of the way there.  We left a 5:45pm on Friday and pulled into my friend’s driveway at 7:10am on Saturday morning.  We stopped for a quick dinner about an hour and a half into the trip.  After that we just made gas and bathroom break stops the rest of the way. 

Once we arrived we were greeted with a great breakfast cooked by one of my most dear friends, Amy.  We sat and chatted with Amy and her family for a bit and then Erik took a little nap.  The rest of the trip was a bit of a whirlwind.  We met friends at the zoo, for dinner, for lunch and I took the boys to visit the office. 

We left Tuesday morning at 6:45am and arrived back home a little bit after 10pm.  I have to say we have some amazing little road trippers.  I wonder if that is in their blood since Erik and I love to travel!  I sure hope so, just shy of their second birthday they have now been in 8 states.  I know it may be a bit weird but this is something I plan on keeping track of. 

I was so worried about trip back, since we were driving through the day.  My friend Amy – having two children of her own and making long trips with them while they were young – knew that what we needed was a DVD player for the car.  She is a “day after Thanksgiving” shopper and had a DVD player for the car with two screens, one for the back of each head rest.  She would not let us give her any money for it and I think now I will be in her debt forever!!  She also gave them the movie Spirit which Max asked us to play several times while we were on the road.   Both were priceless.  I’m really not sure how anyone travelled prior to car DVD players.  When I was a kid we only took one long road trip and after that we were flying the clear blue skies everywhere. 

Some of my most favorite people in this world reside in San Antonio.  They are family.  They took me in and made me part of theirs when my family was many miles away. 

It was a great trip.  I was sad to leave and have to say that if our path ever takes us down that way, I would not be disappointed.  Not one bit. 

2012 - Here we go!

Happy New Year!  Gosh, I can’t believe it.  Another year has passed.  Time keeps going by faster and faster and it seems life gets busier and busier.  2011, like most years had some ups and downs.  I’m looking forward to 2012 and all the possibilities that it brings.  I have made several “resolutions”.  Really it’s more like a mental list of things I would like to focus on in 2012.   I don’t want to call them resolutions, it’s like the word diet, as soon as I use those words my goals go out the window.

So in 2012 I would like to blog more.  I’ve really been trying to decide what direction to go with this blog.  I’ve decided I would like to focus on projects I’m working on.  I’m hoping there will be a lot of furniture re-done this year.  I’m currently working on some little chairs for the boys.  They are my guinea pig project.  I’ve wanted new furniture for the house.  But we have all of this wonderful, well made, awesome furniture that was my grandparents.   I have to say, I have a very eclectic style but we look like we’re just starting out with all the mix matched furniture.  Also, the boys have already beaten the heck out of it.  (It wasn’t in great shape to begin with)  I would like to repaint it and/or refinish it.  Make it more ours and maybe feel a little bit more like we’re grownups or something.

 I would also like to focus on recipes and food.  I love taking recipes and trying to make them a bit healthier.  Erik and I both enjoy cooking and eat about 90% of our meals at home.  We also like to go out but we do that maybe once a week, once every other week.   I also love to bake.  With the time off this weekend and not traveling so far I’ve made bread pudding, homemade French bread, doughnut muffins and some home made chips for nachos later.   I know, I know you’re saying “that does not sound ‘healthy’”!  The bread pudding was definitely not healthy.  The French bread is really not too bad except for the carbs and the muffins, well they are better than eating the doughnut.  You will learn that when it comes to food I can justify eating just about anything!  What can I say, you can’t be good ALL of the time.    

Of course I will still focus on the boys, and their growth.  This next year we are also planning on starting the process of growing our family.  Erik and I have decided to adopt a third child.  We have done a lot of research and hope to start the process in the spring.  I know this journey is going to be an emotional roller coaster.  The thought of starting this process is a little scary but also really exciting.  I can’t wait to see what God has planned for us. 

Needless to say, 2012 is going to be a busy year.  I hope I can keep to my goals with this blog and the others that I’ve made to myself.  I look forward to sharing it. 

I wish you and yours a very prosperous 2012! 

Good-Bye Old Friend

My beloved dog passed away last weekend.  He was the most amazing dog.  He was an unplanned pet that I took in just to get healthy but he won my heart over.  He quite possibly is the best dog ever. 

Sebastian and I found each other while I was living in TX.  I recently started working for a company (the same company I work with now) and went over to a co-workers apartment for a birthday get together.  There was Sebastian out on their back porch, it was January and about 30 degrees.  He was fur and bone.  You could feel and see every bone in his body.  Inside the nice warm apartment was a half lab, half rottweiler puppy that they had picked up in front of Wal-Mart for $10 that day.  When I asked what was wrong with Sebastian, she said she didn't know, they hadn't taken him to the vet.  They were afraid to because animal cruelty charges could be brought against them.  It was like another language was spoken, I couldn’t understand that thought process at all.  Animal in need - YOUR animal in need - help it!

I left the party that night distraught over this dog and the new puppy they had just received obviously to replace the dog dying on the back porch.  The next week at work I talked with her and let her know that I would take the dog to the vet and just say I found him.  After about a week or so of talking I was finally able to convince her to let me have the dog.  I went and picked him up and took him to the vet.  We're still not sure what was wrong with him but with some steroids and food he got better very quickly.  When I got him he weighed 36 pounds, when he was his healthy weight he weighed about 80 pounds.  I also was able to get the puppy from them, apparently because it peed in the house they kept it on the back porch and neighbors complained about the whining.  The vet's office that I took Sebastian to adopted the puppy to another family.  She did not work for the company much longer. 

I think that Sebastian was always grateful for his rescue.  I never really trained him; he just did what I asked.  He could be off a leash and would never go very far and if he did he would always come when called.  I will never forget when I was living in the city and some friends lived a couple doors down.  We decided to take Sebastian down to their house to play with their dog.  I was in the yard and Erik was trying to get Sebastian down to the house but Sebastian would have none of it.  He was not going anywhere without me and no one other than me was going to take him. 

Sebastian felt that everyone's purpose in life was to love on him.  He never met a stranger and never so much as growled at a person.  He was amazing with the boys.  I always hoped he would live long enough for my kids to be able to know him.  He was so great with them, they could do anything to him and if it got to be too much he just stood up and walked away. 

He also had a knack of always laying in the middle of everything and being in the way.  I was constantly saying "Ya gotta move Sebastian".  A few weeks ago, I told him that and thought, one of these days I'm going to miss saying that.  I didn't think that day would be so soon. 

He was getting older, I got him in 2003 and we are not sure how old he was when I got him.  He was starting to get gray and his back hips have been bothering him for the past couple of years.  We put him on supplements and know it has a lot to do with the breed.  I knew I had to prepare myself for his loss but always hoped it would be a long time coming. 

Last week he started coughing and then started looking bloated.  When we took him to the vet she said his heart was enlarged and there was a massive growth in his chest.  The cough was just a secondary infection.  We put him on meds and didn't know how much time was left but that it probably wasn’t long.  On Saturday we were gone most of the day.  When we came home, our other dog Buckeye, was going crazy.  We let the dogs out and Sebastian never came back in.  He laid down by the back step and his heart gave out.  I was with him when he passed and I will always be so grateful for that.  He waited until we got home to say goodbye.  I'm grateful he didn't suffer, that he had a good life, and that he was mine.  I'm heartbroken though because I have lost a very dear friend and family member.  My life will be forever changed by the presence he had in it.    

RIP Sebastian, you will always be in my heart and I will love you forever. 

Sweet Moments

I'm learning that life is filled with the sweetest moments.  Things mean so much more to me now then than they did before.  I'm not sure if it's because of my kids, or where I'm at in my life or my life's journey's but I'm so filled with gratitude for everything I have.  The boys and I have been a bit under the weather for the past week or so.  This past Saturday, the boys went down for a nap and woke up quite early.  Erik was watching football so we all laid on the couch together.  Erik had Max on his chest and I John on my chest.  Erik with his head at one end of the couch and I had my head at the other end of the couch.  We don't have a big couch so all of our legs were overlapping and intertwined, including the boys.  We napped for a good hour like that until one of us had to finally move one of our legs.  I remember laying there and thinking, "I am the luckiest girl in the world".  I wouldn't trade that hour for any other in my life.

A Year in Review

It's been over a year since my last post.  Gosh, what a year it's been.  We no longer have babies, we have toddlers now.  Independent, amazing, strong willed, adorable, and very happy toddlers. 
When I last posted the boys were just starting to crawl.  Now they are walking, running, climbing and their little personalities are starting to really shine. 

This is a pic from when I last posted.

Here a couple recent pictures. 

We survived our first football season and are in the midst of our second.  The boys celebrated their first Christmas.

Were baptized.

Played in the snow for the first time with their cousins.

And celebrated their first birthdays.  They got their first horses...courtesy of my sister...she doesn't spoil them at all.

They also got their own cakes. 

They were dyed blue for two days afterwards. 

I couldn't have asked for a better first birthday weekend for my boys.  All of the grandparents were there to celebrate.  My sister went all out with the birthday cakes and hosted everyone at her house for dinner.  I really can't thank her enough...it was truly perfect. 

We also went to see the Easter Bunny.  Max was not a fan. 

I still can't get over the difference.  It seems just like yesterday when I look as some of these pictures and yet if feels like a lifetime ago that they were that little. 

Then:

Now:

It's been such an amazing year.  These little boys have captured my heart in so many different ways.  I still look at them every day and thank God for my little miracles.  I wish I was more consistent with blogging in the past year so I had more information to give them when they get older.  Little stories, pictures, etc on how things happened.  I hope to be more consistent with blogging, not only to share their growth with the family but to share it with them as well.  It goes by so fast.

Some Quick Updates

1. Viva la mice. After two appointments with two different exterminators were no shows I felt the mouse Gods were trying to tell me something. I was already apprehensive about having all the chemicals around the boys so I did some research and it turns out mice don't like peppermint. We have little cotton balls now with peppermint oil all around the basement. Don't know if it will work but it sure smells nice.
2. We have teeth. John now has two bottom teeth which he actually has had for about a month now. Max is getting ready to break his first any day now. There is lots of drool and gnawing on anything that is around. 
3. We are close to having mobile kiddos. They want to crawl so badly. They're not sitting up quite yet but they are getting so close to that as well. Gosh, this first year is so exciting.
4. We are nanny-less. We are going through the search process for a new nanny. That's a whole big crazy mess of a story that I will have to blog about on another day.

I think that is it for now. I know there was something else I was going to update but can't remember, it's late and it's been a long day.

First Family Trip

At the beginning of June we headed out to California.  Yes, that's right, a plane trip to Cali with two 4.5 month old boys.  Erik's brother was getting married so we made the trip.  Erik does not like to fly...period...he would rather drive.  I love road trips so this usually works out well.  Unfortunately due to having the two boys and taking my full maternity leave, I really have no time to take a road trip to California.  In fact me being able to go to California at all was due to an amazing boss.  We felt it was important to make the trip.  After telling Erik several times why I would not be willing to leave the boys behind for a long weekend he gave in and it became a family trip.  It was that "thing" in our future that neither of us were looking forward to.  Let me make myself clear here though.  We were looking forward to the trip and the wedding, we were actually very excited to see everyone and be at the wedding.  It was the plane trips to and from California that we were dreading.   As Erik put it he did not want to be "that guy".  I get that too, I didn't want to be "that lady with the fussy baby" or worse "babies".  I had to suck it up and play Mrs. Pure Positive Energy for several months.  I found myself saying to Erik on a weekly basis, "It's going to be fine", "We can do this", "they're going to do great", "I need you to hold it together if it gets bad or I'll start crying".  Yes, I used the "I'll start crying" card.  That one came about the week before we left. 

With all of the anticipation we made it through the 3.5 hr flight to California just fine.  The gentleman that sat next to us actually volunteered to do so.  We thought it was going to be the poor sap who was last to get on the plane but this guy actually offered to sit next to us.  I knew he was weird at that moment...I mean he volunteered to sit next to two babies.  He actually was a very interesting person...weird but interesting weird, not just weird weird. 

When we got there, of course the part we weren't worried about, that's we we had a bit of baby trouble.  Poor Max got sick, 102.6 degree fever sick.  I know you other mother's out there are saying, "that's nothing, he's fine".  Please note these are my first children and they have been perfectly healthy up to this point so it freaked Erik and I out a bit.  Your heart just breaks for them.  Luckily I was surrounded by family and many mothers.  The really high fever broke after 24 hrs and then completely by Sunday.  Our happy little man was back. 

The wedding took place in a very scenic part of California.  They live outside of LA in Valencia.  We had to drive just a little bit to get to this breath taking scenery.  I have to say the mountains outside of Los Angeles always look so fake to me. They are so pretty but look like someone drew them up as the backdrop.

The wedding was beautiful.  They got married on a mountain and it was really very pretty.  It was immediate family only at the ceremony and then they had a reception at Erik's father's house.

We made it back fine too.  The plane trip back was not a packed flight and both of the boys did awesome.  I sat next to this wonderful woman who actually had twin 19 year old girls.  One of her girls was at Columbia and the other at Princeton.  She definitely did something right!  I still think of her because we had such an intimate conversation.  I felt like I got to know both her and her family.  She had been through a lot in the past 18 months including losing her husband unexpectedly due to a heart attack. When we were talking it was never a pity me conversation, just a matter of fact conversation like we were old friends catching up.

When we got off the plane I was rushing around and don't feel like I gave her or the conversation we had the proper good bye.  She pulled up a holiday card of her family on her laptop to show me some pics while we were talking so I have her last name.  I think I may send her a little card to let her know how much I enjoyed talking with her.  I'm not sure if that's too stalker-ish weird though.  I mean I don't want to freak the poor woman out, she's been through a lot lately.
 
As soon as we got off the plane I think Erik and I both gave a sigh of relief.  We made it, we survived, and we are better for doing so.  We are so glad we made the trip, what wonderful memories we will have of his brother's wedding.  We are happy though that the flights no longer lurk in our future.