Ice Skating for Pee Pee

We made a deal with a two year old... And finally we won! Weeks ago, we told John that if he didn't have any accidents for two days in a row we would go ice skating, well yesterday was the magic day, FINALLY!! We each took a turn twerling around the ice (hunched over pushing both a brace and a two year old). But a good time was had by all! Now we're going for 5 days in a row to go skiing, but he had an accident on the way home from skating so we're starting over. It must have been the pressure:)

Praying for the babies!

This has been a rough couple of months for the babies in my life. First my cousin had Tommy, who had many complications at birth, and now though busy seeing many many doctors, is doing really well. I continue to pray that he will grow and stay healthy.
Then almost a week ago a woman I cheered with in high school, but have reconnected with on Facebook, had her baby at just 23 weeks 4 days. Baby Naomi has a long fight ahead of her but apparently is already a fighter. Please pray with me for this new family and for Naomi.
Today we found out that one of John's best buddys has leukemia. He's 2, just like John. Actually he's 2.5 months younger than John. And he was here on Friday night. Playing and eating and playing more. Yesterday he was at a birthday party with the boys. And today he's waiting for his first dose of Chemo tomorrow. How is that even fair? This family is very special to mine. We're part of the two dudes club, (there younger son and Colin are just a few months apart too), and I truly enjoy the mother's company. Please please pray for a family just like mine, who was give such terrible news right before Christmas. Pray that a little boy just like mine, is able to fight and beat this.

I really never knew that I prayed this much. But I do. And I need to. It's what gives me a little hope in situations that feels hopeless.

Santa, Baby, Kid

I think every family has at least one of these Santa pictures...




John did really well, telling Mr. Claus what he wants, what he wants for his brother and that he WILL be leaving carrots out for the raindeer.

Baby Colin, I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd mind, at all.

Seth at work...

Seth is very hard working, or so I thought, apparently this is what is going on at ProBuild all day... Or he works at the North Pole....Either way he knows Santa, and that has got to give me a leg up, right?

It's a Birthday Party!

It was a great party with so many of our friends! Colin really loved his personal cake, clearly. Thanks so much to everyone who came and helped celebrate our baby's birthday, it was a great time!

Happy 1st Birthday Colin!

Today is my baby's first birthday! It was one we didn't know if he would get to at first. And yet we knew from even before he was out that he was a fighter! Colin is the happiest, best baby anyone could ask for and we are SO glad that he is part of our family! And now as we start the second year of life for our little mircle baby we know that no only will he be here in good health he will be happy about it! I love you Colin and am so glad that you are my son. I can't wait to watch you grown into a toddler, and then a big kid, and at some point waaaaaay down the road a man. And if you can keep those curls around I would greatly apprecaite it. Please keep your lovely sense of humor (ooohahahaha) and your scrunnchy face when your frustrated. Please keep giving out kisses with your mouth WIDE open and squishing your borther as you giggle and he giggles too. Please continue to keep me on my toes with keeping things just out of reach and keep racing for the stairs (but please learn to go down them safely:). Keep being your baby because I love you just the way you are!!!

1 more week!

Until Coli Bally Doodle All the Day (you didn't know that was his full name? huh) turns one! Here is Colin just one year ago:

We're Home!!

So though we've been MIA for a while we have been working hard and without internet for a few days.
We are in the new house!!! Many thanks to our friends Katie and Keith Sapp and RT (and his wife for loaning him out:) for all of their help. And a HUGE thanks to Seth's brother Grant who may never speak to us again for fear of us making him do/haul/carry something.
We have some much more to do and yet we've done tons of things already! New outdoor lights, new indoor lights, paint, paint, paint, new shleves, a new door between the mater and bath, and there's more!!

We'll get pictures up soon... If we find the cord, and the camera!!
Happy Turkey week!!!

Praying

This morning my cousin M had her third beautiful baby boy Thomas. Unfortunately Thomas was born with an undiagnosed diaphragmatic hernia. From what I've read on the internet it looks like Thomas has a best case serinario, but it still isn't great.
I was never a overly religious child, in fact I wasn't ever that spiritual. Until I had children and knew there must be something greater than me, because seriously have you seen my children? They are perfectly little imperfections. During the time right after Colin was born, I looked hard for a reason. Why did this happen to my child, why didn't the doctors catch it in any of my millions of ultrasounds, what is my next step, what does the future hold for us? I know how my cousin is feeling and it is killing me that I can't hold her. It is throwing in my face many of the feelings I knew were coming towards me with Colin's birthday next month. I don't have any of the answers for my cousin, but I do know that she needs all the prayers she can get. Please, Please pray for this baby brother and his family, they could really use it. And kiss your little ones or big ones a little more tonight:) I know I sure did!

2.5

Did you see the date? Clearly I didn't because I didn't realize that Baby John is two and a half today until Baby Center sent me an email!
From our humble beginnings:



To our hilarious present:




We've come a long way and I thank God for you everyday my little bugaboo! I love you to the moon and back times a million! Happy half birthday John Michael!

Question of the day..

So do you wake up a sleeping two year old because there's a loader in basically his backyard? I know the answer is no, but begeesish he would be loving this. On a side note, seriously after 5 years of living here you are FINIAL LY leveling the ground behind us TWO WEEKS before we move? Maybe I'll take pictures... Or keep packing 4 boxes now:)

Wordless Wednesday

A snowy update!

We are about 5 inches in of a predicted 12-14, it is starting to get a bit more blizzard like by the minute.

So I thought I'd take this opportunity to do a what's up with you post. So here we go:

Seth:
After waking up late today he rushed to a meeting, only making it half way before realizing he needed new tires right then. He is currently sitting in a Discount Tire store, working from their Wi-Fi. Otherwise he is now working for ProBuild and after the 5 insurances in 3 months is over will spend much less time on the phone. No hobbies getting any love except fantasy football, which is not going well:( He is working hard on finding us the perfect tenants, and doing well. We have 3 interested parties and now we're waiting to see who is serious and qualified, and will pay us the most. We're finding it hard to make business decisions and not emotional ones.

Kelly:
Just getting over what I'm sure was swine flu, still mothering, working with the cheerleaders (though I AM hoping there's a snow day tomorrow so I don't have to coach at football in the snow:), and finding things to do besides pack. My current mantra is "if I get rid of it, I don't have to move it". Today I purged 13 plastic cups from sporting events, 3 broken water bottles, and 7 vases (3 of which were the same vase). A few days ago I purged 10 shot glasses, and kept 6! I don't know who needs even 6 shot glasses let alone 16;) Painting at the new house so that it can be aired out before the boys sleep in there new rooms. Tackled and finished the tough room first (Colin's) now on to John's and some on the main level! Getting really excited. And Seth would want me to mention the tip of my nose has gone numb, how weird is that right?

John Michael:


Wanted to be a banana, now wants nothing to do with Halloween except the candy, which I don't know how he even knows about! The smartest little guy you will ever meet. Currently he is playing with beans, which I thought would be a really cool thing, but apparently isn't:( Potty training has become a choice and a punishment for me, which has resulted in floors, pants, and mommy's being peed on in anger. No good:( Sleeping through the night!!!!!!! And the milk obsession has ended which results in less milk being purchased (you know until Colin is drinking milk). We made it thought the lastest "Missing Pink" episode and now have a Pink-stays-in-the-room rule.

Colin:

God this baby is cute! Not walking truly on his own, yet, but just.this.close! He gets around without any problem. He is in a "hold you" stage, that isn't so convenient when you're preparing to move, but is nice when you feel like snuggling. And we've started to let him cry it out. Being just 5 short weeks from his first birthday, I decided it's time to start thinking about weaning. And the 5 feedings at night seem like a good place to start. Monday night was rough on both of us, but last night he only woke once and got back to sleep pretty quickly. He woke at 615, nursed, and slept until 830!! Now we just have to get him sleeping until 830! he found his lovey a cute blanket with a head names Lion. He loves playing in the potty water and toliet paper, and so now we keep the door closed... most of the time!

So that's what's up with us! What's up with you? Any moving/packing tips?

This may be all we get...

J all of the sudden hates his costume:( But he loved it this day!!

Oh dear god...

Last week was 5 weeks not 6 weeks, THAT'S why it feels closer, because it is... Off to pack like a mad woman!

Broken!

Fever has broken as of last night. Colin is on the tamiflu, which is preventative. And Colin has been approved for the synergist (anti RSV) again this year. Now I'm getting the house ready to show to prospective tentents and putting away toys with tons of parts. 6 weeks from thursday we close and it seems much much closer.

I had a handle on my life, but it broke

I used to really feel together, this has not be one of those days/weeks/months or really even

Wee, Wee, Wee :(

Last night around midnight John woke up with a temp of 105* After calling the local ask a nurse number, the Children's Hospitial advised us to have him looked at. Seth ended up taking him in so that we didn't have to bring Colin in also.
Turns out John has H1N1 (swine flu)... He is doing okay today, still has a super high fever (102*) and the aches, he just wants to be held mostly by Seth.
I've spent the morning sanitizing toys and books. It's needed to be done for a while and now I have a really good reason to do it.
We'll have to bring Colin in tomorrow because he is high risk and will have to be treated, I'm not sure what that entails but I'll let you know.
So we're out of commission until his fever is gone +24 hours... I'll let you know about that too;p
And a picture from less sick times:)

#40

On my 101 things in 1001 days.

Done:)

Today should be a holiday...

Yes while yesterday was Yom Kippur, today also should be on the calendar for all to see. My almost 10 month old SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! He slept from 8:20-6:45. We think... The monitor was off, but his room is RIGHT next to ours, so I know he never lost it. Since life is ironic, I was up a few times, but I did get a 6 hour stretch, almost uninterrupted (thanks Seth)! So mark you calendar's it began today. Now how to make this continue?

Buff Family

Every year since John was born we've taken a picture on the first home game of our family.
Here's 2007 (the year J was born)


Here is last year's 2008 picture:



And finally here is this year's 2009 picture again:


And here is the silly version:


Here is the whole gang at the game!


Yes Seth is wearing the very same shirt and hat in every picture. I guess I know what he needs for Christmas!

Colin Update

So both Monday and Today Colin had his 9 month check ups (one cardio and one regular). On Monday with cardio everything went great!! She used words like wonderful, perfect and fabulous to describe his heart and of course him! We'll be going back in December once he's one, but after that we'll only need to go every 6 months!!
Today at the pediatricians office Colin weighed in at 23 pounds 13.5 ounces!! He was 31 inched long and his head was 47.5 cm. He is above the 50 percentile in everything and on the charts for everything except height, which he is only a little off of:)
Colin is crawling on all fours, pulling up to a stand, doing a little crusing, and says mama, dada, hi, brbr (brother) and all done (we learned this during his echo when he told that to the tech!), he is also signing all done and more. He loves to run around in his walker, play with the mega blocks, and do anything in the kitchen.
Overall Colin is doing wonderfully and we are so thankful that he has been so healthy for the past 9 months!!

This week will be better...

I know it will! And so I will start it off with a few pictures:

First a question: What is this plant in the middle?? green/white/red leaves and it does better when watered and gets light.


And here's two from Kaari and Josh's wedding:




Cheers to a good week!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I have had the craziest week! Between Seth's job, insurance, my first week of working, another wedding, and the fact that our shower which we are FINALLY fixing, is a bit of a cluster I am frazzled. I will assume you've been warned. I'm hoping the three day weekend does wonders for my sanity. Hope you're weekend is relaxing and refills your soul.

John's Room Update!

Here are the pictures with the new bedding you all helped us pick! I don't completely hate it with the red walls, but I think I may paint them something lighter at some point. I had to include the one of John looking out the window, even though he isn't wearing pants(surprise, surprise)and it's really dark. I really love the new look and even John told me he "wreally, wreally like his digger blanklets." Thanks for you help deciding you picked well dear readers!:)

We're home, we're tired, and we're sick...

I have to deal with the sick part right now, but we had a wonderful trip, got to attend a beautiful wedding (which we WT'd right up with John's strip down), were able to see many members of our family, and missed many more! I'll post more pictures here later, or you can see them on facebook for now.

The Friendly Skies

We're almost off! In just a few short hours our little family of four will fly all together for the first time! Wish us luck (and no delays) for our trip to Michigan.
We are going to help celebrate the marriage of our cousin Will and our newest cousin Jenn!!! We are very excited for them and can't wait for what is sure to be a beautiful wedding!
We are all packed and ready to go and will be in the mitten state by bed time! See you with pictures monday!

10 on Tuesday~ Colin Edition

1. This morning Colin had his 6/9 month metabolic geneticist appointment at the Children's Hospital in Aurora.
2. Unfortunately we found out that Colin DOES have the genetic variation that can cause his low carnitine. Just like his mama.
3. Fortunately the only course of action is to continue taking the supplements that we already take, and to continue to be monitored.
4. We found out that because we have the variation and not the mutation, we are somewhat of a rare case.
5. In fact our doctor has only seen it one other time and neither parent showed symptoms.
6. Colin weighed 22 pounds 14 ounces (between the 75-90 percentiles)
7. Colin was 29 inches long (between the 75-90 percentiles)
8. Colin's head was 18.5 inches (between the 90-95 percentiles)
9. That means Col is thinning out;)
10. I am just a little sad that he has to deal with this too. As if a bum heart wasn't enough. Poor guy. I am thankful that it is not life threating, but darn!

So....

If you're the praying/juju type, tomorrow Colin has a metabolic appointment at the big Children's Hospital downtown. We'd love to hear that he doesn't have the Carnitine Dissorder that would require him to have to take medicine for the rest of his life. And we're taking weight guesses....

I added labels, so you can find other posts about the same topic, if you want...

Okay so the reason

I always have an excuse don't I. This month has been crazy! Cheer camp, camping, I lost our camera cord, we leave soon for the mitten state. Here are a few pictures to help you forgive me...

A REAL Camping Trip

You know the kind. With A down pour while you're setting up the tent, your two year old falling in the mountain lake, your 8 month old getting a sunburn while it's cloudy out, deer playing through your camp site, and the tent zipper breaking open right before the night when it gets below freezing. Oh yeah, we rocked it all! This was the second annual camping trip with some of our great neighbors. We're already talking about next year!!

Haley Household Happenings

Colin is saying maamaa!! I am so happy that he is saying something, and just tickled that it's mama. Yes it's only when he's crying, but as uncomfortable as he's been with the top four(!) teeth all trying to come in, he's been crying a lot!
Colin is crawling! Again, it takes a bit of imagination to "see" it but, remember the worm, he does that, digs in his toes and pushes. It's not pretty, but it gets the job done.

John's bedding has been picked! Thanks to you fine readers John will have a digger themed room. Really is isn't what I orginally wanted, and yet I am SO excited to order and start his new room! I've got lots of ideas and I can't wait to get started!
I made (two) dinners for a new mama. Truly I'm a sucker for babies and if all I had to do was cook to see little Will, then okay! Plus I can cross off #90 on the old list!
Hope you're having a great weekend!! I know we are!!

10 on Tuesday~ Cheerleading Camp

Today was the first day of cheerleading camp. And oh what a day it was... And there are still 2 more to go. Goody...
1. "the gym is a good place to be, no asbestos in there." -friendly janitor
2. "Now hit your Cheeryo like you mean it" -WAAAAY too friendly instructor
3. "You sent me I size 7, I need a 10" said by me about cheer shoes
4. "Do you think she can just squeeze?" said by confused shoe dealer (um no)
5. "Coach, this gym smells like preteens" teenager
6. "just grab her bum and throw up" Said by different instructor
7. "bad news you're going to have go leave the building, due to radioactivity in the chem labs" not so friendly haz mat guy
8. "it may be cleaned up by tomorrow and then you'll be fine" same guy
9. "coach I think my shoes are glowing" a cheerleader who apparently has been dropped too many times.
10. "don't worry, the radiation will kill any of the cancer you may have gotten from the asbestos" Cheer instructor, turned biologist.

Oye, it's going to be a loooooooooong week:) And I love it!

Have you voted yet? Only a few more days!!!

Which bedding should be get for JM's Big Boy Room?

I've been thinking about it for months. I just can't decide at.all so what should it be? I think YOU should help me decided. There is a poll on the top right of the page, all you have to do is click, and it will REALLY help me out. The room will be painted once I decided on the bedding to ensure a color match and the furniture is black.

So should it be:
Junior Varsity Quilted Bedding

Kasey Quilted Bedding

Christopher's Construction Quilted Bedding

Thank you for helping me on such an important matter... And hey I'll help you if you ever get in a similar jam!:)

Colorado Condo Camping

John really wanted to go camping, I just wasn't up for it. SO we went to our condo, it's like camping only with a toilet and cable and two pillow topped beds. You know JUST like how you camp right?
But then we went to Vail and played at the Pirate Ship Park, and swung, and Colin had his first frozen "yogurt" (it was really ice cream, but it was peach, so it's a fruit:). We fed the giant fish in Keystone (and played at another park), we took silly pictures of the boys at landmarks around the city, and watch the Courage Classic biker riders, played at more parks in Dillon and Frisco, and Fished, oh boy did we fish. Outside of the Condo probably six different times, at parks, in parking lots. JM LOVES LOVES LOVES to fish.
We really are going camping in just a few weeks, you know with a tent, but for now, my little camper is a happy one!