Stoned.

 I love Joey's hair in this photo.  

This is his "after a bath and mom doesn't comb my hair" hair do

When we were on our flight to Orlando, way back to October, I had horrible pain on my left side.  I could barely sit down and begged the flight attendant to bring me something for pain.  The pain went away once the medicine kicked in and I didn't have any problems until a few weeks later.  I scheduled an appointment and was told I had a kidney stone.  Awesome.  I figured it was only a matter of time since they run in my family.
I was given medicine, a strainer and told to wait it out.  The stone would pass.  Well it didn't pass and I got so grossed out using the paper strainer they gave me that I didn't use it for long.  I assumed I had passed the stone and not realized it. 
The holidays rolled around and I would have pain once or twice a month, not horrible, but with everything going on I didn't go in to the doctor.  About a month ago I was having pain, again, and knew I needed to get this taken care of once and for all!  I had a cat scan and the results showed I had a kidney stone and major inflammation/swelling of the ureter.  Luckily my kidney looked great.  I was referred to a wonderful urologist.  He said there was a small chance I could pass the stone and I opted to try that with the help of medicine.  After a week I had no such luck so today I went in for surgery and had the stone removed.  The stone ended up being much bigger than what it showed in the cat scan and there was no way it would have passed on its own. 
This stone and I have had quite a run together, but it is now gone forever!

Luckily I have a wonderful husband running the house and friends from the ward who have checked in and helped with the boys. 

Family Friday Night

We've taken this month off from our babysitting co op group.  I have really missed our Friday nights out, but we have been doing fun things as a family and that is great too.  Last night we crossed bowling off our list.

Charlie had a great time.  He loved pushing the bowling balls, watching the bumpers go up and down, the ball return, but most of all, he loved the shoes.

He was slipping and sliding everywhere he went.  He had some nice dance moves going on.

He would say, "bye bye ball!" after pushing the ball down the lane each time.

 

Are you wondering where Joey was during all of this?  He was chilling in his carseat.  He didn't nap well so he was happily observing everyone while relaxing.

After bowling we headed over to Braum's to share a sundae.  Charlie was so excited watching the cars drive past our window.  In the excitement of the cars, he fell off his chair, smacked into the window and split his lip on the window ledge.  His mouth was bleeding hard and fast. He was trying to be very brave through it all but whimpered the whole way home.  Once we were home he kept talking about the "balls" and his special "shoes."  Glad he still had fun even with the dramatic ending!

Beautiful Day!

Today was such a beautiful day!  Our outdoor thermometer read 70 degrees and it felt fabulous.
Just a few pictures of the boys in the backyard....

Since it was too cool for swimming, Charlie pretended to swim instead

I love days like today.  I'm looking forward to summer when we can have the water table, pool and sprinkler out!  (although once it's as hot and humid as it gets here I'll be missing spring!)

Joey 8 Months

A little bit about Joey:

He is very expressive. He has faces and noises for just about everything.

He is a happy screamer.  If he is happy he is usually high pitched screaming & squealing.  He just can't contain it!

He likes to knock over blocks & have me clap & cheer.  If I don't clap & cheer he looks up at me until I do.

You always know what Joey wants because he fixes his eyes on whatever it is and does not glance away until he gets it.  Just follow his gaze and you'll know what he's wanting.

I think his eyes are turning hazel.

He is getting close to crawling, but currently can only push himself backwards--away from what he wants.  This makes him very frustrated.

His hair flips up in the front after baths.

He has horrible gas.  It's a little embarrassing at times.  (Sorry if this embarrasses you later in life)

He loves to jump.

He likes chewing on books and being read to.

He loves to pick up and eat rice puffs
.
He loves to watch Charlie be goofy.  His best laugh is when Charlie gets him going.  They get each other riled up in the car and belly laugh back and forth at each other.

He is such a nuzzler.  If he is tired or in a cuddly mood, he puts his forehead to mine and moves it side to side.  I absolutely love it.

He is a complete joy.

Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day.

On Feb 1st we made valentine's for grandma's and grandpa's (unfortunately sending them only 1 day before the holiday-oops.  Anyone else hate going to the post office?) & decorated the mirrors with little hearts.  I have been in the Valentine's spirit for a full 14 days!

helping me make Valentine's dessert

Last year we had a dinner planned around Charlie's tastes.  This year I wrote up two menus and asked Tony to pick which one he'd prefer.  He picked the one I knew he would...

Beverage: Valentine's love potion
Dinner: baby back ribs/mashed potatoes and gravy/broccoli
Dessert: "knock you naked" brownie sundaes

I don't know if I would call this a "romantic" meal considering the table was covered in paper towels and wet wipes by the end, but it was so good.  I'm not a big meat person and had never made ribs before.  These babies marinated for over 15 hours before slowly baking for another 2.5.  They were incredible.  Dinner for us was all about the food.  Dinner for the boys was all about the balloons.  At least that's what I assume after being hit in the face with them several times throughout dinner :)

during dinner we answered questions about each member of our family

Joey & his balloon

I used pioneer woman's "knock you naked" brownie recipe and decided "knock you into sweat pants, holding a spoon" would be a better name for it.  A layer of brownie topped with a thick layer of caramel and chocolate chips all held together by the top layer of brownie.  Oh my....

After dinner the boys desperately needed a bath.  Charlie even went potty on the toilet...

Happy Valentine's Day mom and dad!

After lotion and pajamas, the boys got to open their Valentine's presents!  This year the presents came from Grandma and Grandpa Gibson.  Joey got one of grandma's homemade teddy bears--so cute.  Charlie got a lion!  The perfect buddy to watch Lion King with! 

 Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

After the boys went to bed we opened our presents to each other.  Did you know that Tony proposed to me on Valentine's day four years ago? It was a snowy morning and he brought me breakfast, flowers and a ring.  The most romantic part, to me, was that he had found my car, in the Riviera apartment parking lot, and scraped off the snow & ice so I wouldn't have to before work.  I knew he was going to take care of me the rest of my life after that. 

Since Joey has been sick, Tony and I haven't been able to go on our Valentine's date.  We'll have to continue being lovers and go out next month.  Love you Tony :)

Valentine's night is one of my favorite traditions and this year was just as fun as I hoped.  I love my 3 Valentine's!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Home Video

Over the Weekend

We had big things going on this weekend.  I was hosting a ladies' dinner party and we were going to a Super bowl party.  Unfortunately we had to cancel on both!  Charlie and Joey had been sick all week.  Nothing serious, but Friday Joey woke up from his afternoon nap with a horrible cough.  It was 3:30 and our doctor's office was completely full.  I took Joey to the clinic and he tested positive for RSV and had an ear infection!  Poor little guy!  We were there for such a long time doing breathing treatments, getting set up with a nebulizer, etc.  It was a hectic night!

 Such a happy baby

You wouldn't know Joey was so sick from these photos would you?  He's such a sweetie.

After all the germs & being stuck inside, we needed some fun! Sunday night we made homemade ice cream (cross that off our list).  We made vanilla with mint fudge oreos.

 smashing the cookies

Charlie's job was crushing the oreos with his hammer and putting ice in the machine.  He loved it. 

our ice cream

We watched bits of the super bowl and even got our own private halftime show... 

 cute buns :)

Not sure what Charlie was thinking but we were laughing so hard!  He's got cute buns, no? 

It was a good weekend.  Long but good.  I'm ready for another one...

Serenity Now!!!!

This is Charlie.  He is two.

 very proud of his fruit loop necklace

Some might say he is in the "terrible two's" although I'm not a fan of that saying.  He's not "terrible."  I would call him "curious" and at times, "destructively curious."

This happened after a time out in his room.  Funny thing, I didn't hear one peep while he was destroying it.  He quietly tore everything apart.  Quiet usually means he is doing something he's doesn't want me to know about: going through my purse, playing with my ipod, etc. 

Sometimes I feel like I can understand what he is thinking.  He has lots of questions in his head...

"What would happen if I rubbed a tube of desitin all over my dresser and stereo?"

"How many bubbles will be in the bathtub if I dump an entire bottle of soap into the water?"

"How far can I get these cheerios to go if I throw my whole bowl?"

"If I go limp while kicking and screaming, will mom let me play at the park longer?"

He is also exhausted a lot of the time.  He now refuses to nap which results in him falling asleep around 4:00PM unable to function a second longer.  That or he will be so tired his eyes are puffy and he can barely eat his dinner. 

He's just figuring out his limits and so am I.

I sure love this kid!

Family Slumber Party

`Last weekend our date night was canceled because strep was at the co-op host's house.  We decided to do something off of our Live List together as a family.  We picked doing the Family Slumber Party and had a lot of fun!  Slumber parties require snacks so each of us got $3 to spend on whatever treat we wanted.  Charlie picked peanut butter m&m's and popcorn (well I picked the popcorn.  He was only concerned about the candy), Tony picked cookies and chocolate ice cream and I picked a Jamba Juice smoothie packet. 

We blew up the air mattress and grabbed our blankets and pillows. 

playing on the bed

Charlie is really into "bad guys" right now so we borrowed The Incredibles from a friend.  Capes, bad guys, fighting, good guys, flying--he was in a daze the entire time. 

We even ate our ice cream on the bed.  It was a wild night I tell you!  While Charlie was eating, Tony leaned over and said, "what does he remind you of?"  Remember the scene in Home Alone where Kevin is watching movies his first night alone?  "I'm eating junk and watching rubbish!  You better come out and stop me!"  haha love that movie. 

It was a really fun night  although I'm not sure "slumber party" is the right word because we didn't sleep all together.  I don't think we could have handled that much fun ;)