The Hess Family

2011 in review

2012-01-30T16:19:00.006-05:00

notice anything new? i'm not one for change but i felt like it may be time for a new look to the blog. i'm still playing around with stuff and trying to decide which look to go for. there are so many things you can do to a blog! i never knew...anyway, i have literally just finished up my 2011 photo collage. i did one last year, not sure if i ever posted it though. it's just a collage of some of my favorite pictures from the past year. it's had to believe some of these pictures were taken almost a year ago when it all feels just like yesterday. i feel so blessed when i look at all the pictures of my guys. what a year it was, besides two minor surgeries for carson (not pictured) everyone was fairly healthy and happy. that's all i can ask for!

pajama day!

2012-01-26T21:39:00.002-05:00

both the guys had pajama day at school this week. they were so excited to wear their jammies to school and bring their blankets and stuffed animals. carson, of course, brought his blanket and brooks brought "little" mickey, which is a small stuffed mickey. i tried to catch a picture of the both of them but i couldn't get one together, they just won't stand still anymore.

it's a little blurry because he does not stand still!

nothing like a nice yellow bruise on your forehead to really make for a great picture.

and just a daily shot of our bo girl. this is pretty much her, all the time. unless she is busy opening pantry doors and unscrewing peanut butter jars and licking it clean. don't ask me how she does these things...i think she's part human, don't you need thumbs to open a peanut butter jar?

doing what she does best.

2012-01-22T20:55:00.003-05:00

nothing too big to update on, just basically the same old stuff. we've been keeping busy with all kinds of things since the new year and it has been really hard to pull out the camera and take any pictures. the guys are getting so big so fast, i'm not sure how it is happening. all of the sudden one of them will do or say something and i'll think, wait a minute, you're too little to say/do that. but then i take a look at the calendar and realize that in a few short months i'll have a 5 year old and a 3 year old. it's crazy how fast this goes.

they are both still doing well in school and really enjoy going. well, brooks isn't so thrilled the whole way over there but once he's out of the car he pulls it together and has a great time. his teachers still say that he is so quiet, which amazes us. brooks is anything but quiet at home but he sure is fun! carson has been testing his limits a little bit recently and actually had to move his monkey (their discipline chart) down one the other day. i saw the note in his folder and immediately asked him if he got in trouble and he lowered his head and said, yes. i asked what he was doing and he started to cry and said, "i wasn't listening mom. it was all my fault." to which i had to stifle a laugh and tell him that he should always listen at school. the poor kid totally admitted to his crime and had already punished himself. how do i not laugh! i am just hoping that it was a small blip in his sweet disposition and we have had many talks about being a good boy and listening to his teachers at school. these poor kids won't be able to get away with anything since their mommy is a former teacher who will be on them like white on rice if they don't behave! but, moving a monkey one time doesn't call for too much punishment so once we got home (after he went to PT and Speech and told his teachers there that he was bad and got in trouble and it was all his fault) he was allowed to play.

this past weekend we helped baby henry celebrate his 1st birthday in style with milk and cookies and an amazing cake (i'm still enjoying the giant piece we got to bring home!). it was hilarious because at one point my two boys and our friends two boys, who are around the same age, were all on the couch each with their own ipad...it was priceless and i so wish i had taken a picture. from there we dropped the kids off at our house with andrew's parents and we headed up to lake hartwell for a quick getaway with our friends daniel, ashley, philip and stacy. good food, fun, dancing, and company was just what we needed. ashley, stacy, libby (daniel's mom) and i even tried to learn how to dougie...don't ask, but it was SO much fun! thank goodness there were no cameras around for that.

so that is about what we have been up to. i have a few random pictures from my phone to share. again, not my best work but at least it's something...

andrew and the guys enjoying his 33rd birthday cake. happy birthday daddy!

carson one day before school. how in the world is he getting so big?

b after we left henry's birthday party...he was beyond tired and proved it by throwing a fork on the ground when andrew took a bite of his piece of cake and then screaming a high pitched cry until we left. life with a 2 year old is never dull.

it's hard to see here but carson and the coffee table had a run in...the coffee table won. but not for long, he pulled himself together pretty quick and told me he was tough...you sure are buddy!

even his sad face is cute

brooks at the lake with his tool belt ready to go fix some stuff. but first, we have to break it so that we can fix it.

and a huge milestone, carson drinking from an open cup. this has been a beast of a task for him to master but with a lot of help from his speech teacher he is drinking like a champ. he'll tip it up and take a big gulp and say, "ahhh, just like daddy does it"

christmas card photos

2012-01-12T11:41:00.003-05:00

some photo outtakes for our christmas card this year. you never know with these guys what you are going to get. we attempted just one family shot and it didn't turn out as planned. the boys were cold, it was super windy and they were just over it so we scrapped the family shot. there's always next year...

charleston trip

2012-01-08T21:37:00.002-05:00

after christmas at the lake we headed to charleston, sc with andrew's family for a hess family reunion. it was the first time that the boys got to meet their cousin, annabel, and the first time we were all together in a very long time. we had a great time exploring the city, despite some rain and even went on a carriage ride through the streets of charleston. once again, i was a bit busy with the guys to be able to pull out my camera and actually take decent pictures. i think that will be my new years resolution...to actually make the time to take decent pictures. i've realized that time is flying by and i want to make sure i have something to look back at when my boys are bigger and don't want to hang out with me ;)

our first full day in charleston it was raining so we went to the aquarium. the guys and annabel were super excited to see fish that looked like nemo and dory.

carson with sweet annabel. they took to each other right away. it was so sweet.

jellies!

carson and annabel running down the hall.

brooks with his new bff, john.

one night we decided to take the trolley to dinner only for it to turn out to be a huge fiasco. we waited on the curb for almost 20 minutes with three small kids and no trolley in sight. once we finally decided to get other transportation the trolley shows up! we ran back across the street and got on only to find out it was completely packed. fortunately people allowed the little kids to take their seats. it definitely was an experience. while we were waiting we pulled out the camera to keep the kiddos occupied.

carson sucker-punching aunt cameron. clearly, they both thought it was funny.

and the mickey obsession continues. carson got this cute sweatshirt from aunt megan for christmas. we pulled it out when we were on our trip and put it on him. once he realized it had mickey ears on the hood he never took it off. you would have thought we were torturing him when we took it off to put on his pj's. he wore the thing for 3 days until i finally had to peel it off him to wash it. sheesh. here he is checking himself out in the mirror, which he did several times a day.

christmas pictures

2012-01-02T19:47:00.004-05:00

they aren't my best work but here they are...

peek-a-boo. it took all he had not to tear into the gifts that were already under the tree every day.

my new favorite ornament, i found it in auburn this past november and felt like it was made for me and every time i saw it on the tree i felt my angel with us

bo girl

so, here is a funny story from christmas. on christmas eve we were at the lake and decided to take the boys to the christmas eve service at the church. i got the boys all dressed up and we headed over to meet the moores who were saving us seats. we sat down and the boys sat in mine and andrew's laps so good, for the first 10 minutes. then i look over at carson sitting with andrew and he is sound asleep...and snoring. right around that time brooks turns to me and starts talking in a sweet, but very loud voice. as i'm trying to ignore him hoping that he will be quiet he is getting louder and calling my name. i gave in and let him dive into my purse hoping it would occupy him. i look at carson again and he is still snoring and now sweating because he was all dressed up in a sweater, long sleeve shirt and cord pants. so now carson is snoring, sweating on himself and on andrew and brooks has put on every lipstick in my purse. andrew decided to take carson back to the house to save everyone from listening to him snore. now brooks has realized the carson and andrew are gone and he wants to go to the car too and keeps asking to go in a very loud voice. i told him when the man is done talking the we will go. that seemed to satisfy him until in the middle of a prayer he turns to me and yells, "is the show over yet?" at this point i told him we were going to get some water. he was happy with that and as we stood to slide past everyone, he stopped at each person to say, "i'm going to get water now, megan. i'm going to get water now, papa. i'm going to get water now mr. rodney." and i'm willing to bet everyone on our side of the church heard him. i guess it was maybe a little too soon to bring them in for the christmas eve service. maybe next year.

anyway, after church we headed next door to the kelleher's for dinner. carson finally woke up and joined in on the party. believe it or not, i only took one picture from the night but it was a cute one. it's of one of our lake neighbors' daughter reading to carson which was so sweet.

the sweet little santa jammies i found for christmas morning

i so wish this picture came out but i had to share it because of his sweet face. he was so excited to open the very special present from santa who had to get it from england because we couldn't find it anywhere else. thanks bunny and papa who helped santa find it for us!

the new clubhouse that has all the pieces. carson loves it and if you didn't see the video below you have to watch it, it's priceless. i also loved how excited brooks was for carson to open his new clubhouse

carson got a skateboard that brooks hijacked the second it was opened. he rode it around all day long and made sure no one else put a foot on it

sadly, that's all the pictures i got for christmas but it was only because we were having such a wonderful time with our families and friends. i'm always so sad to see christmas go but i am so excited to see what the new year holds for us!

happiest of holidays

2012-01-02T00:16:00.003-05:00

what a wonderful christmas we have had! we have been so busy with all kinds of travel and visiting i have had no time to post or take pictures. i'm working with what i've got but every year i think that i am really going to take the time and take some decent pictures and then it's all over in the blink of an eye. for right now i have two videos that are priceless, at least to me they are. nothing beats the reaction of kids who truly believe in the spirit of christmas and the pure excitement of receiving gifts they have been patiently waiting for. i wish it lasted forever, but at least we have it on video.

the first video was taken after the boys got their drum set from grammy and grampy. i thought i was crazy for suggesting a drum set but they love it and it is the cutest thing to see them both rocking out...

like i mentioned above, the see the sheer excitement from a child is the best. carson had been asking for this new clubhouse for months. he would stare at in on my computer looking at it from every angle. i could not wait for him to open it up to see his reaction...i also love that brooks is skateboarding in the background especially because the skateboard was carson's gift that he totally hijacked the entire day and would not let anyone come near. more on that later.

many more pictures to come as soon as i can see my computer through all the new toys, christmas decoration mess, laundry piles, etc.

merry christmas

2011-12-24T21:21:00.000-05:00

here was our christmas card for this year. i wish i could send one out to every single person who checks in on us but i figured this was the next best thing! we hope all of you have a very merry christmas. as our card says, "it's a wonderful life" and for us it truly is...

Damask Blessings Christmas Card

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must be santa

2011-12-22T22:03:00.002-05:00

the boys got to see santa last week and they did so good. i wasn't sure how b would do but he sat with santa like a big boy and didn't shed a tear. the whole way over and in the line carson had his whole list of things that he wanted to tell santa, but when he finally got to see him he lost all train of thought and totally had a brain freeze and could only get out "presents." he was in total amazement of being with the "real" santa. it was so precious! i can't wait for christmas morning to see the excitement on their faces!

waiting in line

brooks' face after i asked him if he thinks he's been a good boy

but mom, why do i have to be good when i'm this cute!

talking with santa!

hugs for the big guy

christmas program

2011-12-18T22:07:00.004-05:00

both the boys had their Christmas programs this past week. they have been working on the songs since october and brooks has been singing "jingle bells" for the past month. i was so excited to see how well they did. i wasn't sure how much carson would get in to it, he's not much of a singer at home but apparently he loves to sing at school. his class got to wear costumes this year and carson was absolutely adorable in his...

my sweet little star!

here are two cute videos

carson was sitting here because about half way through he told his teacher he was tired and asked if he could sit.

and here are b's pictures. he could have gone one of two ways. one, being the star of the show. b loves a stage and audience, if he feels like it. two, being the complete opposite, shooting people dirty looks and possiblly a middle finger if he knew how...i'll let you guess which way he chose to go...

walking in with his class. i love how they hold the little rope! you can tell here that he has spotted daddy and a few grandparents.

and here i have been spotted

once he saw me he ran up with tears in his eyes and clung to my neck. i had to drag him back to the front and hand him over. i wish this picture was more in focus because of the look on his face and the use of hands. he is looking at me like, "why in the world would you do this to me??"

and then he bolted

and clung to me for dear life

this is how we spent the entire program. oh, brooks, life will never be dull with you!

disney pictures

2011-12-11T21:55:00.005-05:00

i am going to warn you, there are a lot of pictures. so many that i did not even attempt to edit any of them. they came from so many different sources that i can't even begin to separate them all. here they are, in somewhat of a random order...

i love this picture just for b's eye lashes. this was actually in valdosta at the hotel we stopped at on tuesday night.

our first ride we went on was at the animal kingdom. it was the safari ride and one of my favorites. the guys were so excited!

someone was so happy he got his mickey ears! he studied the whole cart of options before settling on the perfect pair. he wore them the entire time.

not much to say here. this is brooks in his glory.

best ride ever!

our one goal was to find the clubhouse. i hoped this would fulfill carson's wish and boy did it ever. he was so enthralled with the thing. the people working the show even let him stay a bit longer and look at it.

day two at the clubhouse show. how could i not take him back?

here is the video of carson seeing the clubhouse appear the first time we saw the show. i thought he was going to jump on stage.

here are a bunch of character pictures in no particular order. we had three character meals where you got to see them up close and personal. neither one was afraid of the characters and they loved running up and giving them big hugs and high fives. brooks even kissed minnie on the nose and then pumped his arms as if saying, "YES! I kissed Minnie!".

donald!

goofy!

running up to see minnie!

with "the real" mickey mouse, as carson would say.

i love this one because of brooks' face, he was super excited that day! carson was busy watching the replay of the clubhouse puppet show.

high fives!

our last night in disney and carson just couldn't hold on. he slept through the entire meal.

sweet little guy

with santa goofy

we had so much fun running all over the parks. the guys loved all the rides, except when we took carson on splash mountain. he was all excited till about have way through. then he kept asking to turn around. once we made it past the big drop he didn't know if he should laugh or cry so he did both. poor kid, we probably ruined roller coaster for him!

me and b on the dumbo ride

daddy and carson driving the race cars

hi, megan!

splash mountain!

for some reason i was obsessed with finding the turkey legs. it was good, though.

i even got to see a very dear friend of mine, val, who happened to be in disney at the same time!

the nemo ride was so much fun and turtle talk with crush was awesome!

probably the most fun they had was playing with the bubble gun brooks had to have.

a very rare moment. brooks passed out. he ran himself into the ground one day and just couldn't keep his eyes open.

dinner at the grand floridian.

b getting in trouble at the grand floridian dinner. we actually had to have a "moment" to ourselves away from everyone after he threw a spoon at me.

what a wonderful vacation! everyone had such a fun time, and i have to admit, i loved it more than i thought i would. not just for the fact of seeing the boys be so excited and amazed, but for the enormity of the whole place. i have a feeling we will be going back!

just a taste

2011-12-06T22:38:00.003-05:00

i am still working on going through all the pictures from disney but here is one of my favorite videos. brooks absolutely loves an audience (this should make for a very interesting Christmas program next thursday) and my dad caught this little show he put on one day at lunch. notice the bow at the end and the special high five from jake (from jake and the neverland pirates, one of our new favorite shows!). oh, dear, are we in trouble...

disney world

2011-12-04T20:55:00.002-05:00

we just got back from disney and boy did we have a fantastic time. i have many pictures to sort through, 5 iphones to get videos and pictures from, a gigantic mound of laundry and countless disney gift store bags to hide till Christmas. i will try and get to the first two things i mentioned as soon as possible. let me just tell you my two favorite moments:

1. carson getting to see the clubhouse up close and in person. it almost brought tears to my eyes. well, who am i kidding? it did bring tears to my eyes. it was like watching someone fulfill a life long dream. i would have moved heaven and earth to find him a clubhouse while we were in disney. if they didn't have something then i was willing to construct it myself. fortunately, they had a life-size puppet show that did the trick. it was by far the most precious thing i have ever seen just to watch him be the last kid out of the studio. he stood in amazement in front of the clubhouse for a good 5-7 minutes before it was time to go. and in true carson fashion, he did not give us a fight when we told him we had to go. he simply told the clubhouse goodbye and let us stroll him away as he watched till they closed the doors. then for the next half hour he told us, "i got to see the real clubhouse, wow!" that right there was worth the whole trip.

2. seeing brooks with the characters. we had several character meals and also saw the whole clubhouse crew at epcot. it was like they were all there to see him. after going through the whole line at epcot he yells out, "who's next?" and for some reason he was obsessed with seeing minnie. when we finally got to her he ran up and gave her a kiss on the nose, then asked if he could squeeze her nose, which he proceeded to do. and, i got it all on video! and in true brooks fashion, the child never sat still and ran around like he owned the place, which he did.

as soon as i find the time (ha!) i will put the pictures up from all of our phones and cameras. we had such a wonderful time and it's all thanks to my mom for the countless hours upon hours of planning. thanks, bunny! we had a magical time ;)

thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-26T11:38:00.003-05:00

i am just now getting some time to sit down and post about our thanksgiving. we had a wonderful trip to andrew's parents' mountain house. the weather was beautiful, not too cold but cold enough to feel like it was actually thanksgiving, the boys were perfect angels...well maybe not that good but they were very good boys and we had wonderful food and good times with family. and even though our auburn tigers didn't pull off an upset against alabama it was still a fun day of watching football. war eagle, anyway. we still believe in auburn and love it!

as far as what i am thankful for this year, it's two simple things...

last year i was thankful that carson was able to get up and walk on his own. now, i'm thankful that he can run with his brother and climb the ladder to his slide and just be a silly little boy. his life may not ever be like anyone else's but i swear he has the best attitude and outlook than any other kid i've ever known. he truly is one very special little boy.

last year i was also thankful that brooks' heart was making a steady recovery. this year, i'm thankful for the miraculous recovery that his heart has made. not just average function but above average. wow. it's so fun to watch him with his little determined personality. now i know why God gave it to him because without it he may not of survived. so on days when i have had just about enough of his strong will i have to remind myself that he's that way for a very important reason.

who would have ever thought we'd be where we are today, when i was perfectly happy with where we were last year. it just proves that the two little souls we have here are amazing, and for that, i am thankful.

long overdue

2011-11-21T20:42:00.000-05:00

i've had these pictures ready to post for some time now but just have been so busy that i forgot about them. a few weekends ago we went to our friends' house for their annual croquet tournament. poor carson was sick that day so he didn't make it but brooks went and ruled the game. well, not really, but he did have fun!

he looks like he's in a catalog shoot!

b telling the guys how to play

the host, kc

b and i took some time for a mini photo shoot in the front of kc and renata's new house!

check out the dimple!

family

2011-11-20T17:51:00.003-05:00

i just got back from being with my family in chicago and celebrating the life of my cousins' little girl. as we were sitting in the church and back at my aunt and uncle's house i realized how lucky i am to be a part of such a special family. we may be overbearing at times (especially at weddings!) but i wouldn't trade my "White" family for anything.

and speaking of family, i was so happy to see mine today. nothing beats a big hug and "i love you mommy" from my two favorite little guys! i missed their sweet little voices while i was gone. now it's time to gear up for thanksgiving and then DISNEY!

2011-11-12T21:12:00.004-05:00

please pray for my cousin ryan, his wife carolyn, their two daughters and their families as they have lost their sweet baby girl, emerson. the next few days, weeks, and months will be very difficult. sweet little emerson fought so hard all day long but in the end God had a different plan for her. the loss of any loved one is always difficult but when it is a child it's unbearable. i can only hope and pray that my sweet angel cooper was there waiting for her with open arms.

please pray

2011-11-12T12:40:00.002-05:00

prayers are needed for my cousin's newborn baby, Emerson. she was admitted to the hospital with a fever a few days ago and she is now fighting for her life. i don't know all the details but she needs your prayers, right now!

33

2011-11-08T21:47:00.004-05:00

well, it has to happen once a year so i might as well deal with it. i turned 33 this past weekend. sunday...or monday. my parents aren't quite sure. it's a long story. so because of that i got to call the birthday card twice and andrew had bedtime duty to himself both days. so i guess birthdays do have their perks!

another perk was the trip to auburn andrew and i took. nothing like spending your birthday in the loveliest village on the plains...

i love this place more than i ever thought i could. it was so nice being back "home" on a weekend when it was semi-quiet. one thing i realized, i am not in college anymore. not even close. as we were leaving the bar (we watched the lsu/alabama game) around 11 i realized that it was just getting crowded. then i remembered college kids don't even start getting ready to go out before 10. i assure you we were well asleep before any bar got too crowded. oh well, 33 has it's perks and i'm sure i will find them! oh, wait...here are two of them:

my dad and sister stayed with the boys while andrew and i went to auburn. she sent this video to me first thing in the morning. i love how carson can barely be bothered to look up from his clubhouse and how brooks looks very confused...

it's a bird, it's a plane, no wait!

2011-11-01T11:00:00.003-05:00

is that super man (disguised as clark kent) and a boy in a hot air balloon??? why, yes it is. our aunt megan did it again with the hot air balloon costume. after last year and carson wanting nothing to do with the sumo wrestler costume we figured he wouldn't want the hot air balloon. wrong. once he saw the giant balloon he was all over it but we only had enough supplies for one costume so he had to settle for clark kent (who can fly also, but he didn't care about that, he wanted that balloon). not to mention that carson had been sick all day long with a terrible cough, so he made it to about 5 houses before he wanted to go home. he's no dummy, he saw the giant bag of candy by the door.

brooks on the other hand loved every second of people stopping to check out his costume. we were told several times that it was the best costume ever some people even stopping to snap a picture with their cell phones! aunt megan outdid herself this year, good luck finding something for next year to top the boy in a hot air balloon!

what? haven't you seen a boy in a balloon before.

with my clark kent.

is that trouble i see...

funny story

2011-10-28T14:28:00.003-05:00

i know that i have been m.i.a this week but we've been so busy and still sick around here. carson actually fell asleep in his physical therapists lap on monday because he was so run down. sometimes i forget just how hard he is working everyday, his little body sometimes just needs a rest. anyway, the boys had a fall fun fest at school this week and i got to take brooks, who was more thrilled with the fact that i was at school with him than anything else. he did love the bounce house and pretty much spent his entire time bouncing. it was so cute to see him with all his little friends and i was amazed at how well he behaves at school. such a good boy!

carson missed his fall fun fest because after he fell asleep at PT he wound up with a fever the next day and had to stay home. his teacher took him on wednesday so he could participate and he loved it. when he got in the car on wednesday he had this on his hand...

i asked him what it was and he said, "it's a heart with words, but i don't know what it says." i told him it says, "i've got Jesus in my heart." to which he replied, "and he's on my hand, mom!" thanks for clearing that up, carson. that's my literal kid!

random

2011-10-23T19:31:00.004-05:00

so, we have all been pretty sick and really busy around here. i've hardly snapped one picture so i had to pull some older ones off my computer. one thing i don't like about the boys being in school (and there isn't much!) is that we can't get rid of the sick "bug." i feel like between the four of us we just keep passing it back and forth. b and carson still have a pretty hard sounding cough and i can't get rid of the runny nose and sore throat. i've even lost my voice as of tonight, which i'm sure andrew isn't too sad about ;)

we did get to spend some time with cameron who was in town from dallas, texas today. i even got my birthday present early which i'm sure you will see me sporting in any new pictures i'm in. it's a beautiful michael kors watch that i have been eyeing lately. thank you so much hess family, i love, love, love it!

it seems that lately thing have been going in fast forward. all of the sudden it's almost november which means thanksgiving, a trip to disney, and christmas will all be here before i know it. where does the time go? i had phone conferences this past week with both the boys' teachers and they had nothing but wonderful thing to say. we couldn't be happier with both of them. shockingly, brooks' teacher said he is so quiet at school. that is to total opposite of how he is at home, which is funny. he's still warming up to the idea of school. he better get used to it soon, because it's not ending for a few years! i think he inherited my love of school which isn't much to speak of...it was never really my "thing" till i got to auburn. go figure?

carson's teacher said he is so sweet and loving which we already knew. he also comes in every morning and does all of his work right away without complaining. i hope this continues. he's getting so much better at his writing. fine motor skills are a weak spot for him and he struggles with it but he's getting there. he also loves to sing and dance at school which is so funny because he won't let us sing at home. he even yells at me to stop when i try to sing but apparently loves to do it at school. his christmas program should be very entertaining this year. i really have been so impressed with the school and am so glad the boys are a part of such a loving environment. it really was by chance we ended up there but it has been the best place for both of them.

of to bed for me, but not without two shots of my sweet guys...

this is pretty much how b looks every morning he has to go to school. he knows it's his day when we get dressed right away and he starts telling me before we even get in the car, "i keep my O's with me, they my O's!" they are trying to get him to put the paci up while at school. so far he will only put it in his pocket. i'm starting to think he'll go to college with one!

this one is a few months old, i can tell by the haircut. i love that sweet little smile!

above and beyond

2011-10-17T14:26:00.002-05:00

a little over two years ago we were in the cardiac unit of a children's hospital. it was the last place i would have ever thought we would have been. we were given some pretty serious news about brooks's heart. 8% was what we were told his heart was functioning at. maybe, just maybe it would be back to 50% within 5 years. we hoped and prayed that we could reach that number one day and that he could lead a happy active life.

the day after b's surgery i knew he would be ok. it was almost instantaneous that he looked and acted better. i was told not to get my hopes up too much, there had been a lot of damage done to his tiny heart. it would take a long time to recover and even then it may not recover.

brooks had a follow up echo today and as the cardiologist was showing me the screen she said, "do you see how well it is squeezing? that is simply amazing." we were talking about what all he had been through and she said brooks was as bad off as it could have been. she hasn't seen much worse. but now? his heart is functioning better than a "normal" functioning heart. his EF (ejection fracture=how well the heart is squeezing, a normal heart's EF is around 75%). brooks's EF is at 79% He has surpassed all expectations by leaps and bounds. i have to say i'm not surprised, that's simply our brooks. amazing on all levels and as sweet as can be. we couldn't be happier or more proud of him. way to go, b!

pumpkins!

2011-10-11T19:48:00.002-05:00

we took the boys to a pumpkin forest the other day and they loved it. in reality, i wanted to take them to the big pumpkin farm in north georgia with the hay rides, gigantic pumpkins and fun rides but it just didn't happen. between football and tennis there was no time. we passed a small pumpkin patch on the way to my tennis match and the boys would not know the difference. when we pulled in they were so excited to see the pumpkins spread out in the "forest." each one they came to was better than the last in their eyes. we picked one out and are waiting to carve it. probably my least favorite part of halloween, i cannot stand pumpkin guts, i'll save that one for andrew!

my guys, i love them all!

sitting with the pumpkins

he kept trying to pick them up...love the tongue sticking out. you know he's really working hard when that happens.

mesmerized by the pumpkins.

what a week

2011-10-06T18:51:00.003-05:00

what a week we have had. i'll warn you, this will be long. but don't worry...all is well. we were just busy.

where to begin? monday was a regular day. took carson to school, b and i came home then headed back early to get carson since it was early release day. i usually have to pick carson up early from school on mondays to get to therapy by 12:30 so it was nice to be able to take our time. we went to chick-fil-a and played for a bit, which the boys love to do. it was hard trying to pull them both out of the play area but i did it and we headed to therapy. carson has 2 hours on monday so brooks and i did our grocery shopping then went and got carson. all in a normal monday.

monday night is when things started to take a little turn. brooks woke up from his nap with a fever and shaking. i knew right away it was an ear infection. it was already late so i waited it out hoping the fever would go away so that he could go to school on tuesday. no such luck. tuesday morning b woke up with a 101 fever. so no school for him, which i'm sure he wasn't too upset about. brooks hasn't come to love school just yet. he's getting better, just not there yet. he at least has stopped clinging to the door frame of the car as they try to pry him out in the mornings. no lie. he clings to the door with his tiny sweet little fingers. it's heart breaking.

so, i made b a doctor's appointment for noon. i had to drop carson off at school, get to my hair appointment at 10:15 with brooks (who sat nicely in my lap and then played with the chair making it go up and down), get back to school for early release pick up and then get to the doctor's by 12 where i found out what i expected, ear infection. at least we got it early, don't worry, he's feeling much better now. both the boys sat so nicely and when the doctor came in carson quickly told her we were there for brooks, not him.

wednesday was our CT scan down at children's. i had been building the day up by telling carson he was going to see a space tunnel. he was all excited until we got to the room that we've seen so many times now. he's no dummy. he knew what he had to do. he got a little upset when they strapped him in but fortunately the nurses there are quick and know what they are doing. once he's strapped down he really can't move but i still have to hold his chin closed. so as i am looking at his sweet little face with tears rolling down his cheek i am holding back tears of my own trying to tell him that he's doing such a good job and we're almost done. i swear, nothing hurts more than your child begging you to make it stop and you can't do anything. as soon as they unstrap him he jump off the table to me and gave me a big hug, just what i needed. and wouldn't you know it, there were images of a space ship on the ceiling which carson looked up at as said, "look mom, mickey's space rocket! i see it!" we followed our CT scan with a follow up visit with our neurosurgeon, dr. reisner. after an hour and a half wait we were finally called back. after a quick check up and carson showing the doctor his mad jumping skills (his new favorite thing to do, since he has finally figured it out) and running skills, the doctor gave us an A+ and even showed us his scans from earlier. now i'm not going to lie and say that i knew exactly what i was looking at but when compared to the scans done in may when his shunt wasn't working i could see the difference. from what i could tell and what the doctor told me, his scans looked great. so as my foof (my dad's dad) would say, we got all As!

we had to head back over to the main hospital to get a dvd of of carson's scan. as we got on the elevator two clowns stepped on with us. they started talking to carson right away and carson loved it. as the door opened the clowns asked if they could walk with carson to the lobby, he said sure. they said they could play some music for him to which he said, "ok, and i'll tap dance!" and sure enough he "tap danced" all the way down the hallway even doing some spin moves, smiling all the way. i wish i had had something to video tape it, i swear it was the cutest thing i have ever seen. as we had to turn in to radiology and leave the clowns carson turned around and said, "thanks for the tap dancing music!" for the love, i don't think the child could be any sweeter.

as we left the hospital i was a bit overcome with some emotions. this hospital has been the scene of so many bad things. my life has been completely changed forever in that hospital, more than once. i have lost so much hope and faith in the hallways of that hospital all in the matter of minutes. the second i walk in there the smell takes me back to so many terrible memories but then as we were leaving carson asked if i would carry him (that's right, carson does most of his walking on his own now) and how could i say no? so as i picked him up he hugged my neck tight and said, "let's go home mom." i swear that child knows what to say to make me feel better instantly.

after such a long day on wednesday and then a full day at school for both boys on thursday you can imagine we are all beat. carson fell asleep on the couch at 4:30 and is still sleeping (now 8:30), brooks went to bed at 7:15 with no protesting, he actually told me to leave his room he was ready to sleep! i'm ready to watch my shows that have been taping all week and andrew is already in bed. i'll be ready for a quiet week with no appointments or illnesses!

carson after his long week, and it's only thursday!

aquarium

2011-10-04T20:35:00.002-05:00

last friday was my parents' 39th wedding anniversary so to celebrate my sister and i took them to the aquarium. the boys and i were the only ones who had been so it was really fun showing everyone around. carson was really excited to go and see the sharks and sting rays, he was really in to it this time. poor brooks ended up with a nasty stomach bug while we were there. i'm talking, people looking around to find out where that horrible smell was coming from kind of "bug." it was not pretty, and what was even worse was the fact that i left his diapers in the car. mom of the year right here. i could not believe it, b hasn't needed a diaper change out in public in forever so i didn't think to grab an extra one. believe me, i will be from now on. i will say that i have been wondering when brooks will want to potty train, but on that day i was glad he had a diaper on! fortunately, megan spotted a man pushing a stroller with a package of diapers underneath and begged him for one. believe me, if he got one whiff of what was following brooks he would have given us the whole package. no lie.

despite the stomach troubles the aquarium was so much fun. it truly is amazing to see the animals and fish. carson even touched a starfish, well he actually grabbed a hold of it like he was going to take it with him. we also got to see the dolphin show which was so cool, both the boys sat in amazement while the dolphins flipped and splashed right in front of us. sadly, no cameras were allowed in that exhibit. didn't matter though because i didn't have my camera with me so the photos were taken with my mom's phone...

me with the boys

excited about going in

carson checking out the whales

b with papa (when no one else would go near him because of the smell!)

sacked out

carson has his yearly CT scan tomorrow at 9 am and i'm praying that we can get it done without having to sedate him. carson had developed a huge fear of anything medical. we have been trying to build up tomorrow by telling him he gets to go in to a space tunnel and find martian mickey. fortunately, there is a new mickey mouse clubhouse out called mickey's space adventure so he is obsessed with anything to do with space. i'm hoping it works, keep your fingers crossed!

skater boy

2011-09-30T08:52:00.000-05:00

carson got some skates the other day. he loves roller skates because team umi zoomi has an episode where they roller skate. he's getting pretty good at it and has even ventured outside. he really likes it when i hold him under his arms and roll him really fast. why do the work when someone will do it for you, right?

all suited up. mickey helmut, of course.

like father like son

2011-09-28T20:36:00.002-05:00

brooks loves to do things that he sees andrew and i doing. he loves to put make up on and brush his hair like i do. it's really quite cute, until he reaches for my expensive MAC eye shadow, then it's not so cute. he also likes to do yard work like andrew does. all the way down to wearing his ball cap just like daddy. it's a happy day in the house when daddy pulls out the lawn mower. brooks gets so excited. he usually watches from the window pulling out the tools he needs, weed whacker, leaf blower, and his very own lawn mower. the other day he finally built up enough courage to actually go near the real lawn mower when it was turned on. we usually just look at it from afar. what a good little helper!

new do

2011-09-25T16:57:00.002-05:00

i took the boys on Friday to get haircuts. you never know how it will go. carson was squirmy and the lady got his ear with the trimmers...carson was not happy about that. i felt bad for the poor girl, she felt terrible. brooks sat like a little statue while getting his hair cut. each time he gets a cut he looks less and less like a baby and more and more like a big boy. tear. makes me sad.

oh, brother

2011-09-20T20:13:00.002-05:00

two more shots from the latest "photo shoot" i had with the boys. i really do love how much these two love one another. don't get me wrong, they have their moments just like any other siblings but for the most part they get along quite well. makes my job a little bit easier.

feeding the fish on the dock

so sweet. carson is a hugger.

i just want to eat my breakfast in peace

2011-09-18T06:55:00.004-05:00

brooks and bo have a love/hate relationship. brooks loves bo until she takes his food from him, then he doesn't like her so much. and bo is good at getting food. especially from little hands. this is how i came down and found brooks eating his morning "snack." pretty cleaver if you ask me! however, if i hadn't been within sight bo would have just stood up and taken the food. silly brooks, silly bo, what will we do with both of you?

a few more

2011-09-15T20:06:00.002-05:00

here's a little collage of some more pictures i got over labor day weekend. we really didn't do too much that weekend, it's always the saddest holiday for me. it means the end of summer, the end of swimming and the end of warm weather. it also meant it was time for the boys to go back to school. i love my time with them at home. well, let's be honest, i love my sleep in the morning and i fortunately have two boys who don't mind sleeping in either. with the start of school brings much earlier mornings. boo. this is also the last year carson will be in preschool. he has to start kindergarten next year. it already brings a tear to my eye and panic to my heart. i'm not ready for this at all. in fact, i don't even want to talk about. we'll discuss that later. there is a lot to discuss.

anyway, here are some of my favorite shots from the lake. you never know what you're going to get when you work with these two. they did cooperate for a bit and i got some good ones. enjoy!

i love these feet

2011-09-14T22:32:00.003-05:00

i love these little feet. i also love this picture. it actually was a mistake but turns out that i really like it. as if you can't tell from all the pictures, photography is becoming a hobby of mine. it isn't the cheapest or easiest hobby but it is really fun and something that i am enjoying more and more. maybe one day i'll actually take a class and learn some things. till then, i'll just click away and hope i get a good one!

we're back

2011-09-12T20:17:00.003-05:00

finally! i finally have my computer back. it's running smoothly, for now. this is my second hard drive in less than a year and the 4th time i have had to restart. it's taken me all day long and i am exhausted (not because of the computer but because monday's are busy!) but i had to post about the start of school.

both the boys started back to school on the 7th. it killed me that i could not post about how that went, if you can't tell, i'm still bitter about my computer. anyway, andrew and i both walked to boys in to the their classrooms on the first day. carson was super excited to start, which was so great to see. he walked himself in but then put the brakes on. it was like he realized what was going on once he was inside. he really only teared up for a few seconds then pulled it together and had a great day. what a difference a year makes! carson will go to school monday-thursday this year. it's already taking it's toll on him. he is sacked out by the end of the day but we love his teachers, ms. dana and ms. helen and his gwinnett county teacher ms. jennifer. they are so sweet and loving with carson and that makes school so much fun for him. he already came home singing chicka chicka boom boom telling me that all the letters fell off the coconut tree! i love when he loves school.

when i came back on tuesday to pick carson up he was too busy singing and dancing with the class, touching his toes and jumping right along with all his friends. it's amazing to see how far he has come, even since last year at the beginning of school, let alone since he was born! he amazes me every day.

this year was big because not only did carson start school but so did brooks! i was not sure how this would go. brooks is my little sidekick, it's been the two of us hanging out for the last 2 1/2 years. he always sees carson get out and go off to whatever activity it is then we go off and do our thing together. it's an understatement to say that he is attached to me. the first day parents could stay for about an hour to make sure the kids were settled and then leave. brooks walked in his room attached to my leg. he's ok as long as he knows mom is there with him but this was all new to him. he really stayed to himself or in my lap, he would wander off a few steps to play but would retract back to me almost immediately. the funniest part was every time one of his teachers would come over and talk to him he would close his eyes! i guess he thought if he couldn't see them they weren't there.

after about an hour it was time for me to leave. it was like b could sense that i was about to leave him and he attached himself to my leg again. he also made sure to have a death grip with his teeth on his "Oh" there was no pulling that thing out of his mouth. one of his teachers peeled him off me and i blew him a kiss and he reached for me and ran out the door. it broke my heart to leave him but i knew not to go back. i didn't hear his cry as i was running towards my 4 hours of freedom or as i was driving away, alone! alone in the car to listen to what ever i wanted, not having to take orders from a 4 and 2 year old for just a little bit. don't get me wrong, i missed my buddies. they are my life but a mama needs some alone time once in a while.

after my few glorious hours i headed back to get my guys. i went to carson's room first but he was busy having fun so i went down to get b. he came running to the door telling me all the things he did. "mommy!! i played blocks, i played cars, i ate my lunch, i have fun mommy!" he was so happy and was without his "oh" according to his teacher he put it in his book bag half way through the day and didn't ask for it again. his teachers said he had a fantastic day and never cried. way to go b! i knew he could do it ;) we walked down to get big brother who had an equally great day accompanied with compliments from everyone who knows carson from last year about how well he is doing and how amazing it is to see how far he has come. all in all a very positive day for both boys. we are now on our second week of school and started carpool today. carson got out like an old pro today. we'll see how brooks does with it tomorrow. he was pretty adamant today about not getting out of the car. he kept telling me that carson gets out but brooks stays with mommy. yikes, we could be in for it tomorrow.

here are the pics from the first day of school. they aren't the best, they were shot in haste and behind my watery eyes.

last year...

this year!

carson in his new preK 4's classroom

b in his 2's classroom

love the look on his face. what am i doing here?

this was his look almost the entire time

i'm still here

2011-09-08T18:11:00.002-05:00

i have lots to share and pictures and videos to post but my computer has taken a turn for the worst...again. they are replacing the hard drive...again. i am putting this out there for all to see, the next time this happens Apple will give me a new computer. i do not want another hard drive. this will be the second time it will be replace and the third time i have had to restart. i so desperately want to love my mac book. right now i do not love it or Apple. we'll see. anyway, as soon as it is fixed and i have everything reloaded i will post all about Labor Day and the beginning of school! it's been a busy few days!

i hate legos

2011-08-30T20:25:00.003-05:00

have i mentioned how much i hate legos? well, i do. i can't stand all the little pieces everywhere. i am constantly stepping on them. they are all over my house. but, my little architect, my little guy who loves to see how things are built. who loves all things proportionate and just so, loves legos. therefore, i love legos. and i don't mean the big easy to handle legos. oh no. we have to have the teeny tiny legos. and we can't create just anything. we have to create exactly what is on the box of the stupid legos i got suckered in to buying at the store for the hundredth time. and then, just when i have finished putting together the very last teeny tiny piece, and we play with it for a mere 5 minutes i have to magically transform it into the clubhouse (mickey mouse clubhouse) or fly boat (wonder pets). oh, how i hate legos but oh how i love my little boy who loves legos. for him i will do just about anything...

gimme a hug

2011-08-27T22:08:00.001-05:00

nothing like a good old brother hug. more like a choke hold if you ask poor carson but brooks was showing his love for his brother. we really are lucky that these two get along as well as they do. i remember a time where carson wouldn't even look at brooks. i'm glad he changed his mind, those little brothers can be quite fun...

2011-08-24T22:18:00.002-05:00

so, almost everyday around 4:30-5:00 i am at a loss for something fun to do. i usually turn on the ipod in the kitchen and the boys and i have a dance party. brooks has really taken a liking to dancing with mommy. he has really taken a liking to one song over all the others i play. britney spears' "till the world ends" is a fan favorite with him. i know, i know. not your typical toddler music but let me explain. ok, i have no explanation. i admit it, i am a closet britney fan. i can't help myself and neither can brooks. he especially loves this one song because he thinks it's a song about his O's. i really can't do it justice with words so here is the video:

going back to the chicago trip

2011-08-19T20:35:00.005-05:00

i have finally gotten some time to sit down and look through the pictures on my camera. i always have good intentions of taking lots of pictures then i realize at the end of the trip i have taken none. oh well. i think we were just so busy having fun with our family that i didn't even have time to think about taking my camera out.

let me start off with the first part of our trip which was the trip to the ATL airport. this place never sleeps. i have been at all times of the week and all times of the day and it always looks like a mad house. the boys were so excited to fly and were in awe of the amount of people that were around us. it's a completely different experience traveling with kids. you see things through their eyes and it makes it so much more fun. what was not fun was hearing that our flight was cancelled 10 minutes before we were supposed to board. um, excuse me? cancelled. like, not delayed a few minutes but cancelled. and the lady who announced it over the intercom sounded like, "good luck finding another flight because this one was totally booked" when she said, "we would be happy to try to accommodate as many of you as possible." thanks, delta. thankfully my dad was able to run down to the delta crown room and have them rebook us a flight...to memphis. so now our two hour flight to chicago has turned in to a two hour delay then a flight to memphis then an hour and a half layover then a flight to chicago. carson's face pretty much explains how we were all feeling...

so after a little bump in our road we were on our way to memphis. i can now say i have been to memphis, at least to the airport. carson fell asleep as we were landing and didn't wake up till we were boarding for chicago. brooks ran around the memphis airport like he owned it.

he didn't move a muscle the whole time in the food court we sat at

sitting down long enough to take a picture

once we finally made it to chicago we went non stop. between all the fun activities with my cousins and their kids and all the wedding activities we were on the go the whole time. we have so many little additions to the family that my two guys didn't know what to do with themselves and all their cousins. we did get to have a photo shoot with linsey. carson and brooks weren't too cooperative but we did get some cute ones.

getting them to stand still is almost impossible

bear hug

my guys (minus andrew who was playing golf)

brooks was not too happy that we had tried to take away his O's and was pitching a fit. carson was trying to make him feel better.

someone got his O's back. not sure how i am going to break him of these things?

sweetest kid ever

my guys with brady. how cute are they?

the main visit to chicago was for my cousin lindsey's wedding which was beautiful. you haven't been to a wedding till you have been to a white family wedding. we are a fun bunch!

sadly, it all had to come to an end. our flight home was much less eventful except for brooks throwing a fit in the security line and smacking me in the face (not something he does on a regular basis) and throwing his shoe at a innocent bystander in the line next to us. i think the security people would have just let us go through no matter what at this point. he perked up once i let him sit on top of the rolling suitcase. whatever it takes, people.

getting ready to board.

best investment ever. i didn't hear a peep out of him the whole time. expect when he wanted to flap his wings and help the plane fly.

see his wings pinned to his shirt? when we were boarding the pilot saw him and his shirt. wouldn't you know it, he was an auburn grad. i knew we were in good hands then. he gave carson and brooks the wing pins. carson wanted both of them because you need two wings to fly, duh.

once b settled down this is how he sat. he didn't' move a muscle except to brush his hair every so often. this kid cracks me up.

it's always fun to go on a trip but it's so nice to be back home. till the next family wedding!

girls trip

2011-08-16T14:45:00.002-05:00

i was on a little hiatus the past few days. the day after i got home from chicago with the boys i left for florida with the girls. my mom, sister megan, friend ashley, her mom yvonne and myself all went to fort myers for a little r&r which included pool time, tiki bar time, shopping and a lot of great eating. we all had a blast and can't wait to do it again, we're thinking it should be an annual thing!

the three daughters at the airport going to meet our moms in florida! it's the first time, in a long time that i have traveled sans kids.

ashley and her mom, yvonne

my, my mom, and sister megan

sunset on captiva island

the whole group!

sisters

ashley and me

pool and tiki bar!

it was my mom's birthday on sunday so we celebrated with some crazy glasses

megan and ashley

happy birthday bunny!

at naples beach

our view at dinner

our last night, just one more glass of wine...

a BIG thank you to my in laws who came out to help andrew with the boys while i was gone. i couldn't have even thought about going away on a trip without knowing they would be in good hands. i will have some pictures of them in the mountains soon! they had a great time which meant i could enjoy my trip!

where we have been

2011-08-09T20:21:00.002-05:00

what a week we have had. we have been in chicago all week visiting with my family, who all lives there. i have quite the large family who all loves to get together, especially to celebrate a wedding. my little cousin lindsey got married so we took the boys up for the week and had a blast. they are both exhausted and so am i! there is so much to tell and i promise i will but for now i am going to bed. here is probably the best picture of the week...(even if it's not the best quality, it was taken quickly before all the kids got up to run away somewhere in gram's yard.)

this is a picture of my grandma and most of the great grandchildren in the family. we all went to a water park then back to gram's for mcdonalds and some fun in the back yard. carson and brooks were so excited to see their cousins and had a blast. it makes me wish we lived closer so that we could see everyone more. thanks "white" family for the best time! we loved every jam packed minute of it!

july 29

2011-07-29T00:05:00.001-05:00

two years ago brooks was just about to drive us all nuts because he was so upset all the time, he would not eat, would not sleep and we just didn't know what to do. a trip to the hospital in hopes to find out a solution to what seemed like every parents problem with a newborn turned into a very scary time for us. not only were we wrong about reflux and colic we were now being driven by ambulance to Egleston and being told that our baby had something severely wrong with his heart. the next day, july 29th 2009, brooks was wheeled away for a 6 hour open heart surgery while andrew and i sat in yet another waiting room on the edge of our seats waiting for our doctor to walk through the doors. we weren't sure what to expect. we weren't given much to go on, just that our child was very sick. even though july 29th was a very long emotional day for us i look at it as a very inspiring day. from that day forward brooks proved to everyone what a miracle he is and just how hard he is willing to fight. this kid has a personality like no other and we are so blessed that he is ours. cheers to you little b. we love you!

botox

2011-07-25T15:27:00.006-05:00

carson got another round of botox last wednesday. it was horrible. well, let me rephrase that, it was horrible for me. it does not get any easier to hold down your child. it gets worse. he now knows exactly what is happening the second he sees the machine in the room. he's actually ok until he has to take his shorts off and sit on the table. from there on, it's no fun. before the doctor started this time he wanted to see carson walk, just to see where he would need some injections. i told carson to show dr. goldstein how he can walk. he hopped off the chair and said, "i can show him how i can dance!" and proceeded to "dance" around the room. i hated to kill his happy mood by putting him on the table :( i'll spare all of you the painful details but i will tell you this, to hear your baby call your name and beg you to make it stop is just about the worst pain i have felt in a long time. i had to put my head down and not look at carson just to make it through, and i wasn't even the one getting the shots. thank God he is ok as soon as i pick him up and thank God he still wants me to pick him up after pinning him down. worst. pain. ever. period. but...without those shots he could not do this...

i absolutely love seeing carson run all over the yard. it wasn't that long ago that i wondered if he would ever be able to walk independently, let alone run. i've learned my lesson, never second guess the determination of this kid...

and one more amazing thing...carson is jumping. you have no idea how hard it is to jump and stay standing. carson has been obsessed with jumping the last few weeks and tries so hard to stay up each time. it's amazing how fast the botox works and how quickly his brain and muscles can figure things out. oh, and a word about his hair in this video. i tried to give carson a home hair cut the other day. um, lets just say i am no edward scissorhands. it was bad. so i had to take him to get it fixed. the lady cutting his hair had really fixed it and had it looking much better...until he sneezed. she was just finishing up the front with the clippers and he sneezed. i swear it could have been a scene right out of a sitcom. she buzzed a section of his head to the scalp. we both looked at each other and cracked up, it was too funny not too. the only way to fix it was to buzz the entire thing. the poor kid has no hair left. oh well, at least it's summer so it keeps him cooler. i've learned my lesson. no more home haircuts...here is the super cute jumping video. again, excuse my voice. it's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me!

cardiologist appointment

2011-07-19T08:30:00.003-05:00

brooks had a follow-up cardiologist appointment yesterday and he did great! we were there for 3 hours and not once did he complain or loose his cool. i didn't think that the doctor would want to do another echo since she ordered one last time (7 months ago) but she wanted to check to make sure his heart function was still as good as it was the last time. i'm guessing that when your heart was just barely functioning and your coronary artery was in the wrong spot they want to make sure things are working correctly for a while. so after 2 hours of waiting we went in for our echo.

brooks sat and watched the screen looking like, "what the heck is that?" it kept him occupied for almost the whole time, then he realized that there were cords everywhere. cords! brooks loves cords and was in toddler heaven pulling on all the cords connected to him which made it difficult for the lady trying to do the echo but i figured he had made it all the way through being so good, a few cord pulls wasn't hurting anyone.

during the echo the tech isn't really supposed to say anything and i'm sitting there looking at the screen trying to make heads or tails of what the heck she is looking at. once the doctor came in i was preparing myself for something that i wouldn't expect. after looking at a few of the pictures and films of his heart she turned and said, "his heart is really functioning quite well." phew! she showed me some pictures of the heart squeezing and the mitral valve, which was their main concern for the future. the heart squeezes almost like a normal heart. it also almost looks like a normal heart. there is some scar tissue where the heart was damaged but that is about it. his valve also has minimal leakage and a trace murmur, no valve replacement for this kid! all in all, he still has a normal functioning heart. nothing short of a miracle. we were once told from one of the surgeons to not expect too much of a recovery, that his heart was severely damaged. i'd say he proved them wrong, and just 10 days shy of his 2 year anniversary of heart surgery. a heart surgery that took us by complete surprise and turned our world upside down yet again.

my main hope (besides the whole heart function stuff ;) ) was that brooks would be able to come off some of his medicine. right now he takes 6 doses of medicine a day. and one of them has to stay refrigerated. it's a pain for all of us. the good news is he is off the refrigerated one (yay! he had to take this one 3 times a day) and is now on a pill that replaces it and he only has to take that once a day. so now we are down to 4 doses of medicine. i did ask the doctor what her thoughts were about how long he'll be on medicine. she thought he would always be on the pill she prescribed for his blood pressure. even though his heart is functioning normally because of the damage they just want to make sure it doesn't have to work any harder so lowering his blood pressure would make it a little easier. he'll also always be on a baby aspirin to thin his blood for the same reason. i can handle two pills a day. right now he is still on his heart function medicine but the hope is to take him off that in 3 months when we go back to check his heart again. she wants to make sure the blood pressure medicine she switched him too isn't affecting his function.

so, it was a good day and a great appointment yesterday. just a very long one. now, on to carson's botox appointment tomorrow. boo. i hate those but i do love to see his skinny little butt walking and running so it's worth the 5 minutes of tears. i'll make sure to reward him with some legos.

my two little miracles

silly faces!

b's favorite thing

2011-07-18T23:08:00.002-05:00

a video of brooks's favorite thing to do...vacuum. i can't say that i mind it, now if i could only get him to actually vacuum the floor and not the walls. (please excuse my incredibly annoying voice!)

busted

2011-07-16T08:49:00.001-05:00

a daily occurrence in our house is finding brooks doing something he knows he should not be doing. he usually flashes us those big eyes with those incredibly long eyelashes and that sweet little smile and he pretty much gets away with anything. oh boy, are we in for it when he gets older. for now, instead of getting on to him i go and get my camera. it's too cute not to capture.

after a few quiet minutes this his how i found brooks

what?

ohhhh, it's a good thing you are cute. there was water and soap everywhere!

a little more will do.

maybe one more pump.

oh yeah, soap all in the hair too.

let me explain.

seriously, how can you get upset with this face?

2011-07-12T10:51:00.002-05:00

i love this kid (and his brother, too!) more than i could ever imagine.

just had to share the new picture of my little guy. i shouldn't say little anymore, i feel like carson is growing like a weed these days. he does most of his growing in the upward direction but he is also getting wider too. i use the term wide loosely. the kid is still only 29 lbs but it's a solid 29. with all the walking, running, jumping and swimming he does he's put on quite a bit of muscle. he's the only 4 year old i know with a six pack! i'm not sure what i'm going to do when it gets cooler here and he has to wear pants. right now he can still wear a 2T in shorts (that is even a little big on him but i can usually adjust the waistband or add a belt and we're good) but he can easily wear a 4T shirt. all of his long pants and jeans from last year look like capri's on him now but there is no way his tiny little tush and waist can fill out a 4T pant. i have a feeling i will be cinching all of his pants with a belt and hoping that he doesn't flash his tush while at school (which, by the way, happened a few times last year)!

also, please keep in your thoughts and prayers a friend of my mom's. her husband has just been told that he has cancer, which they knew nothing of before. i don't know all the details but i know that it has spread and is very serious. i see so many wonderful things in this world but then realize there are a lot of terrible things, cancer being one of the worst. so, if you are of the praying kind please add Bill to your list. amazing things have been done because of the power of prayer and positive thoughts...the picture above being one of them.

fore!

2011-07-10T10:31:00.002-05:00

the boys and i went out on the golf course with andrew the other week. they had a great time running around the course, especially brooks. he would jump off the cart and run to pick up andrew's ball for him. not quite the point of golf, but it sure was cute to hear him yell, "i go get it, i go get it" then "i got the ball! i got the ball!" i see a future in golfing for both of them. as i've said before, anything non-contact would be a great choice!

i love these two pics because it totally depicts how the whole outing went. andrew and carson would head to the green while brooks would run around like a wild man. not sure he has the "golf voice" down yet. once andrew would finish, usually before b made it to the green, he would turn and run for the cart to make sure he got shotgun.

nice shot daddy.

b's dentist visit

2011-07-08T14:43:00.000-05:00

a few weeks ago brooks went to the dentist. i had no idea what to expect but he did great. besides a few skeptical looks he was a perfect angel. now if i could only get carson to act that way at his doctor's appointments...

and some more jumping

2011-07-06T19:01:00.005-05:00

as if you haven't seen enough here are some more pictures of carson jumping in the pool. while at the lake for the 4th we went to our neighbors house to have dinner with our "lake family." i like to call them that because it really does feel like one big giant family which is such a great feeling. there are several families up there and every time we all get together we all have a blast. anyway, there are no pictures from that big event expect for the ones of carson jumping from their hot tub in to the pool. he saw another little boy doing it and i knew once he saw him do it carson would have to. so out of the pool to the hot tub he went with all the confidence in the world. if this other kid could do it then so could he. never mind all of us biting our nails praying that he didn't hurt himself. and sure enough once he got up there and saw all of us watching away he went with the biggest smile on his face. and when he surfaced his smile was even bigger. never count this kid out, nothing will slow him down. and his little bro was right there cheering him on the whole way.

how to do a proper cannonball

2011-07-06T18:49:00.009-05:00

all it took was one jump for carson to fall in love with jumping in the pool. he even tried a "running" jump which ended up being him running straight in the pool without stopping. it scared all of us to death, as he narrowly missed the edge of the pool, but to him he had done it just like daddy does. if you can't see the pictures click on the layout and it will make it bigger. i love seeing those skinny little legs. in the last pic you can see brooks doing what he like to do around the pool, just walk around the edge, while refusing to wear any type of flotation device and scare us all. oh, he is a force to be reckoned with...more on him later. enjoy the cannonball (you must yell this when you jump, otherwise it's not the way to do it).

little fish

2011-07-02T07:54:00.002-05:00

a video of carson jumping in the pool from the side. we've been working up to this since memorial day each time he would go up a step higher. no stopping him now! jump away little fish...

patch

2011-06-29T09:31:00.001-05:00

so carson is supposed to still be wearing his eye patch as much as possible during the day. i am going to be honest. we haven't been wearing the patch as much as possible. there, i said it. i am a terrible mom. but to be honest i don't think he truly needs it and it has been the furthest thing from my mind lately. between all the pop up surgeries and appointments i have simply forgot about it, till i found his little bag of patches in the back of the cabinet the other day. shoot me. so with his eye appointment looming i decided to give it a go for the last week or so.

he really didn't protest too much. we would put it on during on of his favorite shows, wow wow wubzi, and he could sit and have a snack and watch the show with the hopes that he would forget the patch was on. well. here's how that went....

i found his sacked out in his room. i guess if you don't want to use one eye you just close it and then since you are already comfy in your bean bag chair you might as well take a nap. not really the purpose of the eye patch but it did give me about an hour of quiet time which happened to land right in the middle of wimbledon. i wasn't complaining. in fact, i may use this tactic again to get carson to sit still and take a rest for once.

lights out. once he is asleep you cannot wake him up.

definitely smith toes.

my quiet time was interrupted when b decided to wake up. he saw carson in his room asleep with an eye patch and insisted he have one too. he wore it for about an hour. i love how he wants to do everything carson does, even the not so fun stuff.

i finally decided carson needed to wake up. brooks thought so too.

can i just say how much i love these guys. actually, i'm not sure i can describe it in words. i hope they always stay this sweet.

all kidding aside, carson did have an eye appointment today and he did great. they covered each eye and had him read the letters on the screen (eye doctors have gotten very high tech. no longer is it a poster on the wall, but a letter displayed on a giant apple computer). when they covered his right eye he had no problem, he actually did very well. when they covered his left eye, which is his stronger eye, he did OK. as the letters were getting smaller he told the lady, "just make them bigger so i can see them." no lie. that is what he said. i love the mind of a four year old.

all in all carson's eye's have improved with wearing his glasses and, um, patching. yes, i told the doctor i have been patching. technically, i have been. just not consistently. again, shoot me. you patch a kid's eye while he's in the hospital. the whole point is that even with just wearing his glasses consistently his eyes have improved. i'm sure one day he'll want lasix, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

first dentist appointment

2011-06-24T12:19:00.000-05:00

carson had his first dentist appointment this past week. let's just say it was par for the course.carson has developed this fear of exam tables. you would too if you had to be held down and injected with botox in your skinny little legs. i feel like since he started getting those shots he has this terrible fear of the doctor's exam table. fortunately most of our visits can be conducted sitting in the chairs or in my lap. in fact, his last neuro follow up carson was such a little charmer and talked the doctor's ear off, it was very amusing to me and dr. goldstein. but once he put him up on the table to check out his legs carson got this look on his face and he told the doctor, "why don't you check my legs in the chair?" and once he moved him to the chair carsonwas fine with whatever. it kills me that his next appointment in july is a botox one and we'll be back at square one with that doctor. ugh!

anyway, the dentist appointment started off great. carson walked around the office with me while they were showing us all the different things. he was talking to the nurse and being his usual sweet self, until we walked in the room with all the exam chair/tables. he put the brakes on at that point. i could see the fear in his eyes as he sat (because he refused to lay down) on the chair. i went through his medical history with his dentist and explained the root of the fear. so we decided the faster we did it the better. carson screamed the entire time, which wasn't that bad because at least his mouth was open. every once in a while he would stop and realize that what was happening actually didn't hurt but then just for the heck of it he would start screaming again. thankfully the dentist and her assistant were so very nice and didn't make us feel bad at all. they kept telling carson what a great job he did and after words he kept telling me how good he did at the dentist and that he could get a prize because of it! dr. hogan let him pick out any toy he wanted which was so nice. you never know how new doctors are going to act and she was wonderful. carson searched and searched and finally i had to tell him to hurry up. he looked at me as said, "i can't find the lollypops!" hopefully the dentist didn't hear that! as we left the dentist said bye to carson and he said, "bye, thanks for cleaning my teeth!"

i didn't get any pictures from during the appointment but here he is after with his bouncy ball he picked out after he realized there was no candy and a star sticker that he was very proud of all day long even though he kept telling everyone the dentist scared him.

showing his clean teeth

happy to be going home. next up is brooks on wednesday. we'll see how this one goes...

sleeping b

2011-06-22T21:05:00.003-05:00

where did my tiny little b go? does he not look like such a big boy in this picture? i think it's his haircut. as soon as we left the salon i realized i lost his baby look with all the hair she cut off. he's still a sweet little guy though.

here he is just before he woke up from his nap. fortunately, he is still napping once a day for about 3 hours. i'm afraid that when he goes to school next year he will loose that nap, so i am trying to enjoy it while it lasts. an entire day with b awake is a l-o-n-g day. he doesn't stop moving or talking from sun up to sun down. we catch him sleeping like this a lot, with his hands behind his head and his "O's" surrounding him. he may look like a big boy, but this baby still loves his O's!

aquarium trip

2011-06-16T19:59:00.004-05:00

the boys and i went to the georgia aquarium with our friend renata and her little guy henry this past tuesday. they had so much fun even though it was super crowded and hard for the little guys to see much. carson did a great job of squeezing his way through the crowd to press himself up against the glass. several times i caught him knocking on the glass to try and get the fish's or whale's attention. i think he really liked the sea otters, they were so playful and fun to watch. brooks was more interested in climbing on anything he could. thank goodness baby henry is only 6 months old and renata was able to help me corral brooks, which she had to do a lot!

as i was going through my pictures i realized most of them were of the boys backs looking at the exhibits. any time i tried to get them to turn around i would loose their attention! i was totally fascinated by the fish and whales that we saw. it's amazing to me that they are just swimming around right next to us. i think we may need to make another trip back!

wonder carson

2011-06-13T14:14:00.002-05:00

here carson is modeling his wonder pet cape that gram E got him when he was in the hospital. she was sent on a mission by carson who knows how to work his crowd. he was all hooked up and just out of surgery and he pitifully (more acting if you ask me, he's no dummy!) kept telling her that he needed a wonder pet cape. i think he may of actually said "i know you can find me a cape grammy, i know you can do it" i don't know anyone who could have said no at that point. luckily you can find just about anything on amazon and two days later we had one wonder pet cape in our mailbox. he wears it all around the house pretending he is saving the animals with the wonder pets!

oh, brooks

2011-06-07T14:03:00.005-05:00

i can say that my days are never boring with our little b around. from the time he wakes up till the time we put him to bed he is on the move. and now he is talking non-stop. i don't just mean that he talks a lot, i mean that he literally does not stop. he commentates our entire day telling me everything that everyone is doing or asking me, "what you doing mommy? what you doing?". here are just a few of the things he gets in to during the day...

he clearly watches every move i make because he loves to put on my lip gloss. daddy doesn't like this too much but i find it quite funny. and it keeps him busy for more than 2 seconds! the best is when he puts on my jewelry along with the lip gloss. too funny!

what, do i have something on my face?

at least he puts the little wand back in the tube for me.

b's face after i wiped off the lip glass. not happy. he cuts those eyes at me several times a day. if looks could kill...

his other latest obsession...watching daddy mow the lawn. he's too afraid of the actual mower when it's turned on but is obsessed with it. one day he won't love it so much when he as to cut the grass for daddy!

i busted him the other day "paying bills" just like daddy does ;)

and again with the lip gloss. this time he also wanted to wear glasses like daddy and carson. i won't let him play with carson's because i don't feel like paying another arm and leg for a replacement pair so he found these instead. i nearly fell out of my seat when he came out telling me he had glasses too.

silly b. you may run me ragged but you sure do make up for it with that sweet little fireball personality of yours!

mdw 2011

2011-05-31T15:01:00.010-05:00

we had a fantastic memorial day weekend, as usual. it's always my favorite weekend because it means the start of the summer which is my favorite time of the year. this year both boys were able to do so much, it's so fun seeing them running all over the place. carson's favorite is swimming all by himself (with swim muscles on) and jumping off the steps into the water. brooks has found his love of all things fast. this includes but is not limited to ;) the mule, boat,being spun around in circles in the pool (not a fun activity for me, it makes me very dizzy) and simply running around nonstop until the wee hours of the night.

here are some pictures of the many things we did this weekend...

a mule ride was a must for brooks first thing in the morning. if it were up to him he would have spent every waking moment on the mule. and when we told him our mule was "sleeping" he asked to go see chris's mule, our neighbor at the lake. little stinker figured that if ours is "sleeping" then maybe chris's would be awake. he now talks about the mule even in his sleep. and to think, just a few months ago he was terrified of it!

boat rides were a must this weekend. we even got in a few cocktail cruises :)

check out the sheer determination on b's face. he was driving the boat, no matter what.

must. steer. boat.

and then there is carson who falls asleep just about every time we went on the boat. he's so sweet. this was about 5 minutes before he went lights out.

pool time

b by the pool. he wasn't too in love with swimming, he'll get there. right now he is more concerned with mowing the ground around the pool. the swimmies are just for show.

carson loved jumping in!

b wanted to give jumping in try after watching carson.

and most importantly, memorial day always reminds me of when andrew proposed. we were down on the dock and i had no clue what was about to happen. it was one of the best days of my life and started this whole journey we have been on. and through it all we are always together. the good and the bad. but let's hope for more good. happy start of the summer to all of you!

better together

2011-05-25T13:27:00.001-05:00

love and love

feeling better

2011-05-22T15:25:00.001-05:00

my sweet little guy is feeling so much better. i guess i would too once the pressure was gone from my brain! sheesh, it is never dull around here, at least i can say that.

4 years

2011-05-21T07:55:00.004-05:00

today is always the hardest day for me to wake up. i just wish i could sleep through it and skip over the 21st of may, but i can't. i have a family who needs me to get them a snack, some juice, to help them build the clubhouse, to go outside and play with, to just be their mom. the problem is i always feel like our family isn't fully complete, we will always be missing a very important piece. it's been 4 years since we have held sweet cooper and not a minute goes by that i don't think about him and what our family would be like with him here.

i've read many books looking for some kind of peace of mind, some kind of explanation of where he is and why but not many of them have done much for me. until i read heaven is for real written by a little boy who went to heaven for 3 minutes when he was 4 years old. he explained a lot to his dad ,who is a pastor, about what heaven is like. the most important thing he said, at least to me, was that Jesus really loves the children who are in heaven. he really, really loves them. which makes me feel a little bit better knowing that my baby is being cared for and loved until i can see him again...we love you and miss you every single day, cooper phillips hess.

carson update

2011-05-19T07:44:00.006-05:00

carson had a pretty good night last night. he slept fairly comfortably. me on the other hand...well we do what we do for the love of our children. every time i tried to sneak out of the bed he would look at me and say, "you have to sleep with me, mom" so what could i do? i contorted myself and fit in the bed with him. i can't say i had the best night's sleep but i did love snuggling with my little guy.

he's a bit over everyone coming in and checking on him. especially when they have to put the ointment on his incision, but it is so cute because when someone comes in with a stethoscope he says to them, "you are going to check my shirt with that step-a-scope aren't you?" he also shows everyone his hand with the iv in it and asks if they can "unstuck" it for him. he is no fan of the iv, i can't blame him for that one, i hate iv's too! and of course, everyone thinks he is as cute and sweet as can be.

we've seen the doctors this morning and have been given the go ahead to get out of here at some point. i'm still waiting around for the that "go ahead" though. i think this is the worst part of a hospital stay. when you are so ready to leave but can't till they tell you. i know that there are certain steps that have to be taken but we're just ready to go home! so for now carson and i are sitting and watching mickey mouse clubhouse. thank goodness they have the disney channel!

here's a sweet little pic my sister took with her phone after his surgery yesterday.

carson's surgery

2011-05-18T08:14:00.003-05:00

ok, sorry to scare everyone with the last post. i didn't have my computer with me and i could only post in the title line...ok, so here it goes...

sunday morning carson started vomiting and then slept the whole day in our bed. i thought maybe he had picked up a stomach bug somewhere and wasn't too concerned. monday he was fine. he went to pt and ot and had no problem. he acted like he was all better.

tuesday morning he kept telling me he didn't feel well. i figured he just didn't want to get in the car to go to school. i told him he would be fine once he got in the car. nope. he threw up all over me just before i put him in his seat. so out of the car we all went and back in to the house. he slept most of the day and seemed to just have the stomach bug again. until he started telling me that his head hurt really bad. not sure if he was really sure it was his head i asked him to point to where it hurt and he pointed to the front of his head. this continued most of the day tuesday. of course at 5 o'clock once the regular doctor's office had closed, i decided to take him in to be checked out for some kind of tangible illness. i think i am the only parent who was rooting for the strep test to come back positive. so when everything came back all good i was perplexed. always in the back of my mind i am thinking about his shunt. but on the way home he perked up and wanted fries and a chocolate shake. i thought, "ok, maybe he's feeling better?" but it didn't last long and he was back to complaining of a headache.

by this time i was really worried that it was his shunt. he was very irritable and seemed very uncomfortable. finally around 2 AM i had had enough wondering and worrying, i was taking him the the hospital. i packed him up and headed out while andrew stayed at home with brooks. as soon as we got in the car he seemed fine again, i asked if his head was hurting and he said no, so i pulled him back out of the car thinking i was just overreacting. but no, a few minutes after we got back in the house he was upset again and saying his head hurt bad...so, back to the car this time with the promise to myself that no matter what we were going all the way to the hospital this time.

once we were at the hospital they took us back and got us settled in a room just like the one i took brooks to when he was 2 months old. the feeling was all too familiar. they did a head CT and Xrays to check his shunt and sure enough, there was fluid in his ventricles. you see, the reason carson has the shunt to to drain the spinal fluid from his brain to his stomach because he does not do it himself due to his brain bleed as a baby. people with shunts can do anything anyone else can, there are no limitations and for the last 4 years he has had no problems. but, every once in a while something goes wrong and the shunt malfunctions.

so once the problem was identified surgery was scheduled and the neurosurgeon was called in. things moved so fast at this point i really don't know how i kept my composure. maybe that's why they do it that way, so us mom's don't have time to freak out. the doctor came in and spoke to me (and my sister, she was here for some moral support and to ask good questions that i couldn't think of at the time), told me about the procedure and that he was confident carson would be just fine. by this point, they had given him some "baby valium" to calm him down and he was hallucinating about the fly boat from the wonder pets ;)

away he went at 8 on the nose. again, i didn't even have time to work myself up before he was wheeled away saying he was going to take a ride on the fly boat. about an hour and half later the doctor came out saying carson did great, the blockage was in the tubing that drains in to his tummy, so they unclogged it and he was as good as new! man, medicine and the human body amazes me sometimes!

we are now in carson's room where he is sleeping. he'll wake up every once in a while and complain that his hand hurts, which is where his iv is. but besides that, he's doing great. thanks again for all the prayers, thoughts, texts, e-mails, calls, facebook messages, etc. i really feel how much carson is loved through all of them! i will update more later and definitely when we get home, hopefully tomorrow.

Carson is in surgery now, I brought him in to the Children's ER early this AM. Turns out his shunt is malfunctioning and he needs to have it fixed.I

2011-05-18T07:06:00.001-05:00

the boy loves chocolate

2011-05-13T12:51:00.002-05:00

how can i deny this sweet little face anything? so when he asked to eat a chocolate cupcake (we still stuff his face with whatever he'll eat to try and put some weight on him!) i said sure! and then when he wanted to eat it with his fingers, why not! as long as he's eating i'm happy. actually, his eating habits have gotten much better in the last few months. he actually asks for things to eat and tells me that he is hungry. the first time he said that i nearly fell on the floor. people kept telling me he would eat when he got hungry and they were right (imagine that)! he's not much of a breakfast eater, but i can't ask for it all, can i?

some shots of the aftermath of the chocolate cake eaten with our fingers

cleaning man

2011-05-13T12:42:00.003-05:00

for some reason this post was deleted from the blog? not sure why, but here it is again...

b loves to clean and he saw me using this swiffer and desperately wanted to use it. i can't say that i didn't enjoy the help, now if i can only teach him to do laundry...

mother's day

2011-05-08T17:47:00.006-05:00

as my mother's day (well, weekend i should say. i think we deserve more than just one day!) comes to an end i can't help but think about why i love being a mom. it's more than just the good times, which there are so many of those. i have to say that i love all of the moments, the good, bad, ugly, sad, hard, triumphant, sweet, long, exhausting, amazing moments. i have had more than my share of hard moments with my kids but i feel like all of them have shaped me in to the mom i am today, and believe me, i know that there will be a million more moments. moments that will melt my heart and moments that will break it. but in each moment i hope that all my boys know that i will be their mom forever, nothing can change that.

in all my relaxing this weekend i didn't really take any pictures but here is a recent favorite. it's a favorite because everyone is looking in the same direction, all eyes are open and everyone has a smile on their face! i love my guys!

videos

2011-05-05T12:56:00.002-05:00

two new (well, not really new because i took them back in march, but new to you!) videos for your viewing pleasure...

just a little brotherly love...

way to go carson! all his hard work has paid off and it's only getting better..

baby pierce

2011-05-03T14:04:00.002-05:00

i do not know these people personally but a friend of mine shared the link with me a few weeks ago. i feel like i am reading my blog 4 years ago. andrew and i have felt every feeling these two parents are going through right now and i wish i could wrap my arms around them. you really have no idea the amount of emotions you go through watching your child struggle to live until you have done it first-hand. it literally drains you of everything you have but you push yourself because for the love of your child you will do anything. please add baby pierce and his parents to your prayers and thoughts, i would wish this roller coaster ride on nobody...

baby pierce

happy monday!

2011-05-02T07:27:00.003-05:00

i use this blog as a baby book of sorts for the boys and want to make sure all the important events are documented for them to look back and read one day. they were not around when 9/11 happened almost 10 years ago but they will learn about all the horrible things that osama bin laden did to our coutry and the heartbreak he caused. i pray that my boys get to grow up feeling a little bit safer because he is now dead. God bless that navy seal who ended bin laden's life to make ours safer. thank you to all the military who have been fighting for our safety and freedom.

"The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done."~George Bush

and on a lighter note, here is my silly little b. check out the number of "o's" he has with him! he collects them before he gets out of bed, then i have to collect them all throughout the house before putting him down. he is never without one...or twenty!

brothers

2011-04-27T13:57:00.002-05:00

these were taken a few weeks ago at the lake. i love the one to the left because you can see carson looking to the side just to check on his brother. they really do love each other and it's so fun to watch them together. hopefully they will always be best buds high-fiving each other along the way...

easter extravaganza

2011-04-25T13:11:00.005-05:00

we had a great easter weekend that seemed to last forever! it was one fun day after another starting with carson's school egg hunt. he was so excited that brooks was at school with him he could have cared less about finding his eggs. once b figured out there was candy in the eggs he took carson's bucket from him and started scooping up eggs, it was pretty funny. carson was fine with that too because then he could play in the grass instead of trying to find eggs with his name one them. priorities.

saturday we went to the annual powell easter egg hunt. this thing gets bigger every year. this was carson's 4th powell egg hunt and brooks's 3rd. never mind the fact that b was just 5 days old at his first one! it was so much fun this year because both the boys were really in to the whole idea. this is no amateur egg hunt. there are 8000 eggs all over the front yard and pasture. carson had a blast collecting his eggs and watching all the kids. again, b spent most of his time unwrapping his candy and eating it before moving on to another egg. they also had jumpy houses and a huge jumpy slide that last year carson so desperately wanted to go down. he couldn't really navigate the steps up last year. not this year though. he zipped right up with everyone else and came zooming down with a huge smile on his face. i even tried to go down with him the first time and he told me no, he wanted to do it himself. well, ok then. i guess he's not a little guy anymore. sniff, sniff! we truly are so lucky to be able to be a part of this easter egg party, it's so much fun seeing everyone from the neighborhood i grew up in. which was, by the way, the best neighborhood ever!

from the egg hunt we went to another egg hunt and birthday party for one of carson's friends from school. sweet jacob wanted carson to come to his party and they waited for us to get there to start their egg hunt. when we were leaving carson and jacob hugged and carson said, "i love you jacob" it was so sweet!

next we came back to our house and had easter dinner with my parents. the next day we headed over to andrew's parents house for another easter celebration including a swim in the pool! they boys loved it and carson jumped right in swimming from one side to another (with swim muscles). b stayed on the steps but also had a blast dumping water from a cup. who needs pool toys when you have a plastic cup. my kids are so easily entertained! we had another yummy easter meal complete with another egg hunt. needless to say, we have our fair share of easter candy. they boys were so wiped out they slept the whole way home and then some.

i bet you are wondering if i took any pictures or am i just going to ramble on this whole post? yes, there are pictures. in fact there are so many i am trying a new way of posting them. here you go...

the first set of pictures are of andrew and b by the "general lee" car, b on the jumpy slide. he wouldn't go any further than the step! my dad and andrew brining the boys up to the powell's house, carson zipping down the slide, and a shot of the powell's beautiful house and just a few eggs out front!

not many places does the easter bunny himself show up on the fire truck to start the egg hunt!

some shots during the hunt, notice how the two of brooks are of him trying to open his candy!

mr. powell taking people for tractor rides around the horse pasture.

here are some shots we got on sunday before the guys jumped in the pool. i had just a few minutes of picture time before i lost everyone. the boys have on their masters shirts they got this year. andrew and i are hoping one of them will win one day and take care of us!

another year another easter. time is just flying by. i still remember being on bed rest in the hospital and celebrating easter and now that seems like forever ago. we hope you all had as much fun with your easter as we had with ours!

when life gives you lemons

2011-04-23T14:58:00.000-05:00

make some lemonade!

thumbs up, it's delicious!

happy good friday

2011-04-22T09:23:00.002-05:00

the boys have come to love the show olivia on nick jr. they really love to belt out the opening song which is just the word olivia over and over again. here is b doing his best to sing the song...happy good friday to everyone!

for future reference

2011-04-20T14:51:00.002-05:00

i will not be taking the boys to check-ups together anymore. what a nightmare that was just a few hours ago. for some reason i scheduled carson's 4 year old and brooks's 2 year old check-ups on the same day. dumb idea. these two feed off of one another and once one started crying the other wasn't much further behind. it all started with the little finger prick. b watched as carson started to cry and from that point on it was all a disaster. luckily my mom was there to witness this mess and at least give me another set of hands, which i needed.

long (very long...you have no idea how long) story short, the boys are both healthy. dr. putnam is impressed with both of them and how well they are doing, considering what they each have been through. i love our doctor so much, she has never made me feel overly concerned about little things...like carson only weighing 26.5 pounds. she says that it takes a lot of work to be as awesome as carson is and that must burn a lot of calories. he has never lost any weight, just gained it ounce by ounce. he is in the 10% for height and well, we don't worry about charts for weight. he had to get 5 shots but she only gave him 3, not enough body fat to handle 5 she said. we'll go back in a few weeks for the other 2. he also had to pee in a cup which she gave us a few weeks ago. carson is a bit pee-shy and won't really go in public (but that is changing, he went at therapy monday and wednesday and at school!) so we peed in the cup at home and brought it in. this 4 year old check-up is a doozy! all in all, he checks out just fine, even though he kept telling the nurse to stop touching him. poor kid is sick of being handled by everyone, i would be too!

b screamed and clawed his way though his check-up as well. he clung to me like white on rice! he is currently 23 lbs which is in the 5% for his age and is 32 inches which is in the 10%. so i guess being low on the charts runs in the family. eh, charts mean nothing to us. the most important thing is both the guys are healthy and happy, that's all that matters!

so again, if you ever hear me say that i am just taking both the boys in to get in over with in one visit, slap me. it is not worth it for them or me!

a little privacy, please.

2011-04-17T19:41:00.002-05:00

this video cracks me up. you can hear brooks say, "privacy" when i open the door. we were at the lake and he went in to the bedroom and closed the door. i obviously followed him, we don't leave b behind closed doors, and when i came in he yelled at me saying privacy. he was in there doing his "business" and wanted to be alone. who wouldn't? this kid cracks me up...

i'm on a bo!

2011-04-14T13:17:00.002-05:00

carson goes back and forth with our bo. some days he hardly knows she is there but recently he seems to be more interested in playing with her. the other day he was laying on her and said, "look mom, i'm on a bo!" too funny. as you can see, bo could care less. what a good girl!

happy birthday carson!

2011-04-11T09:00:00.001-05:00

four years ago today andrew and i were thrown in to parenthood earlier than we ever thought. i had just celebrated easter in my hospital bed, happy to be sitting there with no activity going on. my two boys were safe and sound. the next day would change our lives forever. carson and cooper hess were born 14 weeks early. at just 1 lb 15 oz and 2 lbs they were tinier than you could ever imagine.

as all parents can tell you, you never know the hand that you will be dealt with kids. being a parent is not easy. we found that out right away, four years ago. some parents aren't challenged till later on, andrew and i are hoping that our test has already been given (yeah, right!) with carson. he has proven himself a fighter over and over again and we could not be more proud to be his parents. we love you, carson ridley hess!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcOWzVk0cuGLkY

happy birthday carson!

2011-04-11T08:27:00.001-05:00

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcOWzVk0cuGLkY

happy birthday brooks!

2011-04-06T08:00:00.001-05:00

happy birthday to our sweet little b! two years ago today at 4:11 am our lives were blessed with this sweet face. his little heart hiccup seems like forever ago and to look at him now you would never know there is anything wrong. everyday is something new and exciting with brooks and we love every minute of it. happy birthday brooks, we love you to the moon and back!

thanks to my cousin and her friend (who has a great photo website freckle photo) i was able to make this book for brooks for his 2nd birthday. there are so many more reasons we love this little guy but here are our top ten...enjoy!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcOWzVk0cuGLmQ

a trip to the farm

2011-04-04T21:44:00.006-05:00

since carson is on spring break this week my mom and i took both the boys out to the jarvis farm. they are friends of our from waaaayyyy back when we lived in good old cedar creek. they now live out in canton, which is about an hour away from where we live. they have a beautiful house with tons of land and all kinds of fun stuff to do for little boys who love to play. and, adrienne (the jarvis' daughter and my friend from when i was little) came with her son who is just a few months younger than brooks. it was fun to see them together and playing, as much as an almost 2 year old and a 19 month old will play together!

our day was a bit delayed by the massive "upset stomach" carson had. poor kid has been hit with the stomach bug. as if he needed to loose any weight, especially right before his 4 year old check up (yes, i said 4! i can hardly believe it myself). that would be one of the two reasons i've been m.i.a for a few days (sorry mrs. jarvis, i will try to be better about updating!). carson has had this nasty virus and brooks had a double ear infection. i was at the doctor's office last wednesday with him and a 102.8 fever and two nasty looking ears. he was given a shot of antibiotics and then put on another oral antibiotics. let's hope this knocks out his ear infections. poor kid walks around with his paci's stuck in his ears and he now tells me, "mommy...ear hurt" how sad is that!

anyway, once i got carson re-dressed and the car all packed up we were off to the farm. wouldn't you know it, i didn't have my camera with me when the boys were feeding the horses, which was very cool, and all the boys enjoyed doing. but i did get pictures of the highlight of the day...a gravel hill. yes, there were horses, a fish pond, trails, tractors and all kinds of things to do and what do my kids play with...a gravel hill. tonight when carson was going to bed i asked him what his favorite part of the farm was and he said, "the rock hill, that was really fun." oh well, the point is they had a blast and were completely worn out by the time we got home. thank you so much for a fantastic day, jarvis family!!

king of the hill...

until the two little guys climbed their way up!

three sweet little guys on a gravel hill

anders and brooks

mr. bob brought out the tractor which i thought carson would love. not so much. he like pulling the levers and pretending to drive but once it was actually turned on, no thank you. back to the gravel hill he went.

anders showed us all how to ride a tractor. he had no fear and even rode around in the horse pasture. maybe next time for my guys.

this was a close as b would get to the tractor

feeding the fish

great day out at the farm...now it's time to start planning some birthday celebrations! i can hardly believe we will have a 4 and a 2 year old!!!!!

don't you all go like this?

2011-03-28T09:13:00.002-05:00

i'm went back and forth about posting this picture but then thought, why not? it's too funny not to. sometimes i put carson on the potty so that he can do more than just pee, if you know what i mean. and just like all men, he needs something to read so he plays with the iPad. i think he looks a little too comfortable...

aunt cameron visits

2011-03-24T06:58:00.004-05:00

a few weekends ago aunt cameron visited from dallas. it was such a nice day outside that we stayed in the backyard for most of the day. i was able to get a few pictures with the boys. no luck with both of them at the same time, those days are long gone of getting two little bodies to sit still together!

brooks wasn't feeling the photo shoot. he never does. it makes for some cute pictures though. pay no attention to his shirt...you will be seeing it again in a later post ;)

more surgery pictures

2011-03-23T09:35:00.004-05:00

some more pictures from carson's surgery yesterday. he did so good and we couldn't be more proud of him. he was such a big boy!

just waking up.

he only cried for a few seconds once he woke up, he didn't like the iv in his hand. so daddy made him laugh by putting on his hospital gown. silly daddy. it did the trick though!

all unhooked from the wires and tubes and ready to get out of there!

what carson was looking at...pictures of the beloved clubhouse!

laid back and ready to go!

see you later Children's! it was a very pleasant experience and everyone there was wonderful, but we would prefer to never have to come back, with either of our children!

surgery-update at home now

2011-03-22T11:52:00.006-05:00

just to let all my blog friends that we are home (actually, we have been for about 3 hours now). carson did great, he was such a trooper and charmed the pants off of everyone at the hospital. he got a shake and some fries on the way home and was so glad to see brooks when we came in the door. he was up and walking around like nothing happened all evening. i was having to tell him to take it down a notch, he just had surgery! thanks for all the prayers and positive thoughts!!! we couldn't have done it without all of you! i am having an adult beverage to calm my nerves then going to bed, it's been a long day :)

sweet sleepy guy...still not wanting to wake up.

2:53 pm-

they brought carson back to the room about 30 minutes ago. doctor said he did great. he had a fairly large hernia on the left side but nothing on the right, which surprised her.

the nurse who took care of him in recovery said he never woke up, even when she tried to move him around a bit. that's our carson...once he's asleep there is no waking him up. it's kind of like bob in the movie what about bob. you can call his name, jump on the bed, turn on the tv but until carson is ready he won't wake up! so here we still sit 40 minutes later. at least he is back in his room with us and i can watch him. thanks for all the calls/texts/emails/prayers/thoughts today. they have made us feel so loved!

they just wheeled carson back. he was good and loopy and didn't mind at all that we weren't going with him. it never gets easy watching strangers wheel your baby away. the surgery should only last an hour or so. i will try and post once he is out and recovering.

it was really cute when we got here. they were getting his vitals and when the nurse said he was done carson said, "i did it, and now i'm ready to go home." if only it were that easy!

carson's surgery

2011-03-20T19:56:00.002-05:00

we had carson's surgery consult on wednesday of last week. all went well, the surgeon is super nice and really good with carson. even though i had been preparing him for weeks now for this appointment he still protested when she wanted to see the area where the hernia is. it's not in the most convenient of spots (not that any spot would be better, i guess) and carson is so picky about that area being touched. aren't we all? anyway, the doctor let him stand so that she could look at it and after he calmed down she asked if he was ok and he replied, "yes, i feel better now" while still chocking back tears. she got a kick out of that and had a nice little conversation with him and watched for a few minutes then turned to me and andrew and said, "you know he is very smart?" now, i don't want to brag but that is not the first time someone in the medical field has told us that. i'm not sure what it is they see him doing (or if they just tell all their patients parents that) but it seems to be the general consensus. when you start off like carson did and have the brain bleeds that he did you don't know what will happen and to hear someone who has never met him and has only observed him for a few minutes tell us that, well, it's just a nice thing to hear.

so, after her assessment she decided that a quick surgery was in order. she will check both sides of his little boy area to make sure there are no other hernias that may show up later. he should be able to come home the same day and be back to his old self in no time at all. the surgery is scheduled for this tuesday afternoon. i will try to post when they take him back and when we hear an update and then when we're back home. if you happen to be sitting around on tuesday with nothing to do send up a few good thoughts and prayers for us, thanks!

and so as not to forget our other little guy here is a new trick he has mastered! just what you want to see your child doing. he now thinks it's funny because i told him it is yucky. so i guess yucky=funny. boys.

amazing

2011-03-18T15:14:00.004-05:00

what we all take for granted every day is something that carson has worked so hard to achieve. i never thought the day would come that he could navigate the backyard alone and now...well, you can see for yourself. brings a tear to my eye (quite a few, actually) and a smile to my face.

by george, i think he likes it

2011-03-15T13:19:00.002-05:00

i don't know if i have mentioned it before, but carson is the worst eater ever. he would sit at the dinner table all day long and not take a single bite if it were up to him. i know i used to post when he was a baby about how frustrated i was with his eating. it has been a problem since day one (well, day one of when he started eating on his own. he was on a feeding tube for almost 3 months). it's what kept him in the NICU an extra 2-3 weeks. the kid would not eat. but now that he understands the concept of bribery things have gotten a wee bit better. i can actually get him to eat a decent amount of food and it seems that he is eating all of his lunch at school. anyway, we have found one thing that he cannot resist. pizza. good old pizza. not the best for mommy and daddy's waistline but if he'll eat it, we'll get it for him.

and if carson loves it, then so does brooks. it's so funny to see b watching his big brother and imitating every move he makes. if we can't get brooks to eat something we tell him we'll give it to carson then he immediately wants it back.

in my free time

2011-03-09T16:03:00.002-05:00

i should be cleaning, doing laundry, unloading the dishwasher, vacuuming, cleaning out the mess we call a pantry but instead i'm playing on my computer. it's a rainy wednesday, i've given carson full reign on the iPad, brooks is finally taking a nap and i am perched at my counter messing around with pictures. oh well. all the other stuff can get done another day, right? anyway, i found this really cool website for digital scrapbooking. i consider this a baby book/scrapbook for the boys. i never started one for each of them after they were born. i was a tad bit busy both times what with one being born 3 months early and the other having a major heart defect. so why not make the blog as attractive as possible? here's what i have done with the last hour and a half of my "free time."

i know, you may be thinking, "an hour and a half for that?" but consider that i had a screaming almost 2 year old who did not want to take a nap so he stripped himself naked in his crib, an almost 4 year old who asks for a snack every 5 minutes because the d@$n dog eats whatever he has, said d@&n dog barking her head off and scaring the crap out of the bug guy (who was supposed to call before he got here) to spray for the lovely colony of ants living in our kitchen. so, the way i see it, it is pretty impressive i could even turn on the computer! i know you have seen these three pictures before but they were the first ones i pulled up to try out in the frames. aren't they cute though!?

silly brooks

2011-03-08T21:39:00.000-05:00

if i've said it once i've said it a thousand times. i don't know what we will do with this little guy sometimes. he definitely has a mind of his own. i have no idea where he would have gotten that?

brotherly love

2011-03-06T21:26:00.002-05:00

it's the one thing a mom hopes for when she has children. especially when they are the same gender. it took carson almost a year to even like brooks. he wouldn't even look at him for a few months. i even posted about how much carson disliked his baby brother and how much it upset me. i'm not sure when things turned around or what happened to make carson decide his brother wasn't so bad but boy have things changed. carson absolutely loves brooks. he adores him and thinks everything he does is wonderful. the other day he said, "i can't find brooks, he's really small and i can't find him." he also tells anyone who will listen that brooks is his baby brother. it makes me smile every time.

now, if i could only get brooks on the bandwagon. little b has decided that he is his own person. there are times that he adores his big brother. and he gets sad when carson gets out of the car for school and he has to stay (but i think that has more to do with the fact that carson gets to come sit in the front seat in carpool, not that he is actually going to school without brooks). either way, i love it when i catch moments like this. i love my little guys so much and am so glad they love each other!

bo girl

2011-03-02T16:37:00.001-05:00

every once in a while i have to give bo her time in the spotlight on the blog. she tends to get left in the dust sometimes and she really is a great dog. we love you bo!

patience is a virtue

2011-03-01T08:19:00.001-05:00

the other day carson was desperate to go outside and play. he loves to roll down the hill in our front yard and pretend like he's climbing a mountain. he kept asking me and asking me to go outside. i was trying to get some stuff together so i told him to go wait by the front door. here is how i found him...

"are you ready yet?"

we have a climber

2011-02-27T21:47:00.003-05:00

oh, little bears, what will i do with you? this is how i found him. and yes, instead of getting him off the counter i ran and got my camera. call it what you will but i had to get this one record. this kid will climb on anything. i remember when he was just a little guy and how much he loved to stand on things. i should have known then that he would end up on top of things later on...please excuse the inside of my cabinets, there was no way to photoshop that out!

notice that he's got bo's collar. he'll walk around with it calling her name as she runs from him.

what else can i get that i am not supposed to have???

good thing the kid is cute ;)

really?

2011-02-23T14:51:00.003-05:00

that's what i have been saying to myself for the last 24 hours. let me explain...

yesterday when i picked carson up from school he was in his "back up" pants. i knew right away he had had an accident. he had also had one last friday. i could not figure out what was going on? once we were home i was changing him into some play clothes so we could go outside. i noticed that his "little boy parts" didn't look like they normally do. one side was substantially larger than the other. i freaked out. i have no idea what to do with this area? carson is very shy about his boy parts. he does not like us washing it, talking about it, nothing. so when i saw this i panicked and called the doctor. we were told to come in right away. always a good sign.

once we were at the doctor's office she wanted to see if he could pee in a cup. yeah right. but i tried anyway. carson is so funny about going potty. he only likes to potty on his frog potty at home. he will hold it all day long at school and the car ride home and go as soon as he gets home. it started off cute, but now is getting a little impractical. he needs to be able to use other potties. i'm going to have to work on that, but that's neither here nor there. back to the story-as i was trying to get him to potty he was yelling at me, "i don't want to pee in a cup, i want my frog potty!!!" so, no pee in the cup. i decided to pick my battle for the day and that was not it.

as soon as our doctor saw the area in question and felt it (which was no easy task) she knew right away it was a hernia. um, excuse me? how the heck does a 3 year old end up with a hernia in his groin? apparently it comes with the territory of being a preemie, as most of our other issues do. how do you fix a hernia, you may ask (as i did)? do we just push it back in? medicine? nope, we have earned ourselves a surgery. yea us. our doctor told us it's a quick out-patient procedure and he will be back to his old self the same day. there are really no restrictions till he has the surgery either, just keep an eye on the area. of course, i'm a nervous wreck and will be till he's back home from surgery. we're not sure when that will be, his consult appointment isn't till March 16th! not sure what i'm going to do till then because i think it is affecting his bladder. he has done so good with wearing underwear and having no accidents. i don't want him to take steps backwards with being potty trained. ugh!

so after all of that yesterday i had to take carson to our friends' house downtown so that we could make his 8am eye appointment at the emory eye clinic. we were both exhausted but had a good time having dinner and hanging out with kc, renata, and baby henry. so off to the eye doctor we went this morning. loooonnnnnggggg story short, his eyesight is OK. he has some scarring from the ROP he had as a preemie in his right eye but other than having to wear glasses to be able to read fine print, he's fine. and we made it all the way through the incredibly long wait and appointment with no accidents, phew! i did almost rip the nurse who gave him the eye drops to dilate his eyes a new one. again, neither here nor there. the doctor was super nice and so good with carson and told us to basically have a nice life, he didn't really need to see him again.

on the way home i called andrew's mom who was watching brooks for us and found out that he was not acting like himself. he felt warm and was pulling at his ear. he just saw the doctor last week for a double ear infection. the poor guy had been just laying on eileen's shoulder all morning. if you know brooks, you know that is not him at all. he usually doesn't stop moving. so i dropped off carson whose eyes were dilated and has a hernia and picked up brooks who had an earache and a fever. sure enough, 101.9 and a red ear at the doctors office. this is his 3rd ear infection since january. we can not catch a break over here!

sorry for the long post with no pictures. i just don't have it in me right now to take any pictures. i'm exhausted. i'll let you all know when carson's surgery will be as soon as i know, but it looks like i won't find anything out till his appointment on the 16th.

oh, and on the way to the doctor with brooks he spilled and entire chocolate shake in my car. really????

valentines

2011-02-16T08:01:00.003-05:00

my valentines day started at about 12:30 am that morning with brooks screaming in his bed. i went in, sat with him for a minute, then put him back. a few minutes later he was crying again. i'm not sure what gene it is that us moms are given, but i knew that cry was different from a regular i just want to get out of bed cry. i knew right away he had another ear infection. you could just tell by the way he was acting. so we slept in the back bedroom, and when i say slept i actually mean me sitting up with him propped up on my shoulder. i would get him to calm down and fall asleep for about 40 minutes at a time then he would wake up and start all over again. poor guy was in a lot of pain. so sure enough, the doctor confirmed that he had not one, but two ear infections. happy valentines day! once we got him some medicine he was much happier.

andrew and i were able to go see a movie thanks to his mom and dad for coming out to watch the guys for us. we don't really do much for valentines day, but it was nice to get out for a bit. i have the two best valentines gifts already, i don't really need anything else :)

these were taken a few weeks ago at the park but i just thought they were so sweet and really show each of their little personalities.

our little bear is always so serious, till you get past his tough guy exterior. then he is the sweetest little thing. he doesn't let too many people in though. this is the face most people are greeted with. i think he's working on his modeling face!

happy valentines day (a day late)!

brooks's first mule ride

2011-02-13T21:49:00.004-05:00

the other weekend at the lake brooks had his first solo ride on the mule with andrew. carson loves the mule and as we're riding around on it he's yelling, "faster, faster!" we figured with brooks's no fear, do what i want to do attitude he would love the mule ride. you can see for yourself how it went...

before taking off down the driveway. always with his "Oh." that's what he calls his pacifiers. you can see the excitement on his face.

here they come, how do you think he liked it???

can't tell? just wait for the next picture.

at this point i could hear him yelling, "mom, mom, mom!"

aaannnndddd, he hated it. he cried the whole time and cried even harder when he saw me just to make his point. i'm sure once he sees carson loving his turn he'll give it a second chance.

potty buddies

2011-02-10T10:31:00.002-05:00

anytime carson says he needs to potty brooks runs to sit on the frog potty and says, "pa, pad" which in his language means iPad. he must realize that carson gets the iPad when he uses the potty. so, instead of having to pull b off the frog potty creating a screaming fit i put two potties in the bathroom so they can both be in there and i give brooks the iPod. now, brooks has no idea what to do on the potty but he feels just like his big brother when he's in there watching his very own "pa pad".

what are you watching? i want to watch the same thing.

notice that brooks still has his pants on. a year ago carson would not have wanted brooks sitting next to him but now they are best buds, i hope this lasts!

never too young

2011-02-08T16:24:00.003-05:00

might as well put him to work while he's willing to do it.

what's next, mom?