8 Months

Hi, my name is Alaina and this month I've been BUSY! Busy crawling, busy pulling myself up on furniture, busy cruising, busy growing teeth (3 to be exact), busy getting into Cole's toys, busy getting into Mommy's stuff, busy eating (mostly big people food...forget the baby food, I'm a big girl!) and busy just being cute! And, now that I've accomplished all of those things, I've finally found my voice and I'm busy talking. No more quiet little girl here, I'm a jabber box just like my brother. In case you're wondering what to get mommy for her birthday, maybe ear plugs would be a good choice. Good thing we're cute jabber boxes! One thing I have not been busy doing is sleeping, but maybe now that I've accomplished so much in one month, I'll be tired. Mom can only dream...

Christmas, Take 2

Yes, we had two Christmas' though, since we were still receiving packages last week, it was more like 4-5. Everyone spoils us too much!
Here are pictures of some of the wonderful gifts we received from far away. Thank you so much to everyone!

Thank you, Nana & Papa for my awesome
Action Agent Ship

Thank you, Gea & Granpa for my walker
with this cool removable toy

Thank you Auntie Jojo and Uncle Adam for my
Firetruck that I like to put in mommy and daddy's bed

Cole & Alaina having a picnic together

Thank you Gea & Grandpa for my Toy Story 3 landfill!

The Big 3

Just one question...How on Earth do I already have a 3 year old?! I feel like I was just bringing that sweet little boy home from the hospital. I kind of feel like 3 is a really monumental age. A lot more independence comes with being 3. He goes to preschool, he can participate in organized sports, gymnastics, and swimming lessons without us having to do it with him. It's pretty huge. I've also found there's a lot more negotiating taking place in our home. I can't tell you how many times a day we say "do you want to make a deal?" or, "here are your choices..." I think letting Cole think he's making his own decisions is going to be a very useful tool this year!
He's even started to understand that now that he's 3 he has to take 3 bites of the foods we give him. I guess there are some definite bonuses to him growing up. I know he still needs me, but it's nice to know he can be a little independent too.

We went to the doctor on Tuesday and he's doing great. He's in the 50th% for weight and height and above average for all of the skills that they look at when you're 3. We couldn't be more grateful for our happy, healthy, smart, funny, loving, imaginative, sweet (80% of the time) little, I mean big, 3 year old boy!










*3 year pictures taken by mommy :-)

A Dino-Mite Party!

As per my son's request, this year's birthday party theme was DINOSAURS! It was really fun to plan and I think the kids had a great time, but boy planning a big party right after Christmas was exhausting (hence why I'm just now posting pictures). First, we started off with a dinosaur fossil dig in Cole's sandbox. Ben and I made, yes, I said made, fossils and bones to go in his box as well as dino eggs that when cracked open had baby dinosaurs in them. Then, the kids went on a dino egg hunt. I spray painted Easter eggs (the biggest challenge here was finding Easter eggs in January) black and tan and they had candy and quarters in them. Then we played stick the dinosaur in the sky and finally, Tutu read some dinosaur stories to all the kids. After all of the activities we ate "Carnivore Sliders" "Bracchiosaurus Berry Salad" "Shiny's Shells" and drank "Swamp Water Punch". Then there was the present madness...I wasn't sure what he got until everyone left and I could finally look at everything. We ended with a delicious dinosaur ice cream cake and then we all napped. I didn't realize a 2 hour party could be so exhausting. Cole was thrilled though and re-enacted the party for the following week and that's what it's all about, right, making a little boy happy on his 3rd birthday.

Prayers needed for a special little boy

I don't usually send out prayer requests, but I have a friend who could really, really use some extra love and good thoughts sent her way. To make a very long and emotional story short, her sweet little boy, Levi (15 months), is hopefully going to undergo heart surgery on Jan 5th. This is a little summary of what he's gone through in 15 short months from his Care Pages:

We found out at our 20 week ultrasound that Levi had several congenital heart defects that would require surgery shortly after birth and several more times throughout his life.

Levi has:

L-Transposition of the Great Arteries
Pulmonary Atresia
Ventricular Septal Defect
Dextrocardia
Supraventricular Tachcardia
Atrial Ectopic Tachycardia

At six days old, Levi had his first operation. He received a 4mm BT shunt, and had a simultaneous Ductus Arteriosus ligation.

That shunt lasted almost 6 months to the day. At six months, his oxygen saturations began declining and his cyanosis was much more apparent, and so he was admitted for a cardiac catheterization, which showed shunt stenosis. He then had the 4mm shunt replaced with a 5mm shunt.

It is our hope that his shunt will last him until age 12-18 months when he will get his big corrective operation.

This next surgery will include:

A double switch modified Senning and a Nikaidoh procedure with a cadaveric graft.

Levi's been sick with croup since Thanksgiving and he obviously needs to be well for such a large operation. They decide tomorrow if they can go through with the surgery or not. His mother has taken the other two boys out of preschool and has been home with them since then so they can all get well and not infect Levi. I don't know how the mother has kept sane being home with the 3 boys for such a long time, actually, I should say don't know how she's stayed sane since her 20 week appt! The entire family has gone through so much.

So, if you could take the time to say a little prayer for little Levi that he can actually have the surgery on Friday and that all goes smoothly, I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

For more info on Levi you can visit his Care Page at:

http://www.carepages.com/carepages/TheheartofLevi