January 2008 Photos (F5 to restart slideshow)

Owen speaks

Our little baby has been babbling a lot. I love to hear him just talking to himself. A few days ago Owen glanced at Russ as he was walking away from the kitchen table and said, "dada." It made me gasp. Good thing I wasn't eating, because I swear it would have ended up in my lungs! I turned to Russ and said, "Did you hear that?!" He completely missed it, so I had to tell him what happened. He was so happy, he walked over to Owen and tried to get him to say it again. And what did Owen do? He just politely stared at Russ. I couldn't help but laugh.

Brandon & the stomach flu

Brandon scared us all to death with how sick he got last week. All he would drink was water. Food was completely out of the question and that included popsicles. He couldn't even keep water down, so he was absolutely freaked out about consuming anything at all. After three days of only water, I finally convinced him to eat 1/2 a popsicle. That only happened because we had been to the doctor that day, and I reminded him that he promised the doctor he would eat popsicles. I also tried sneaking Gatorade into his water. He told me that his water "stinks". Juice? No. 7-up? No. The boy was a skeleton, and we were positive he was going to end up in the hospital. The next day he ate a whole popsicle and some applesauce. With each day he ate a little more and a little more. But I do have to tell you that my patience was pushed to the breaking point. Trying to explain to a 4 year old what it means to go to the hospital because he won't eat popsicles and drink juice is a lost cause. There were no words. Even more frustrating when he would ask for food, and then not eat it. I can only hope we don't go through that again any time soon. I feel like I lost years off my life!

Family snow day

This passed Tuesday was our family snow day. We'd been looking forward to taking the boys sledding ever since that big storm blew through here. We were reluctant to go, since we got such a late start on the day. (If you know us, this comes as no surprise, I'm sure.) We got up to Echo Summit around 1pm, and it turned out to be the perfect time. The sun was out! The day was just beautiful! I didn't worry about Owen freezing, because it was just perfect sitting out in the sun. We put out a blanket so Owen could crawl around and still be protected. He wasn't so sure about that cold wet snow. He did his best not to touch it at all. I did feel a bit sorry for him, because the only snow outfit we had for him was soooo bulky. He actually looks a bit ridiculous with the coat on. All you could see was this tiny little head popping out of this gigantic "snow suit". The boys had the best time sledding. Every time Dylan came down the hill with Russ I could hear him yelling, "Again! Again!" Brandon felt like such a big boy that he could go down the hill all by himself. He still rode down with Russ and Dylan, but loved the fact that he could be independent, too. I even took Owen down some really short, slower sled rides. He was smiling at the end, so I can only assume that he enjoyed it. We must have stayed and played for a couple of hours. In the end, we were so glad that we decided to go. It was the perfect happy family day.

And another year begins

As nice as the holidays were, I am sooooo glad they are over. The boys had the most wonderful holiday season. I think they spent more time at the grandmas' houses (overnighters) than they did at home. Well, it feels that way anyway. They've been smothered with love and attention and more toys than they know what to do with. We decided that Brandon was old enough to start giving to kids less fortunate than he is. We explained how very lucky he is to have such a loving family and a warm bed to sleep in and so many toys to play with. Then we told him that there are some boys and girls who don't have a warm, safe house to sleep in and no toys to play with, so wouldn't it be nice to give them one of our toys. He actually wanted to give them a house, not toys. In the end he chose one of his unopened toys to give away. The most difficult part for him was choosing which toy to give. I was so proud of him for being such a big boy and so giving. I didn't expect him to handle giving away one of his presents so well.