Pictures from the week and a funny moment

I just had a few pictures I felt like posting and thought I'd share a funny Alex moment from today.

During church today, one of my contacts really started to bug my eye. I rubbed and rubbed, did everything I could to get it feeling better. It didn't feel better, so I just took it out. I went through the rest of church with one contact in and the other out. Not very enjoyable. When we got home I took the other contact out and decided to give my eyes a little rest. Some of you may know this, but I am not good with contacts. I will wear a pair for several months (sometimes without taking them out). Yes, I know it's not good for me, and I've received several lectures about it. I'm sure I'll get a few more now. Because I wear my contacts so often, I almost never wear glasses. Anyway, I took out my glasses and dusted them off. Soon after, I picked Darek up because he was getting upset. Alex looked over at me with a very concerned look (after seeing the glasses). He then told me, "Mom, maybe you should take those glasses off. I think you're scaring Darek." Leave it up to a 5 year old to tell you the truth about how you look. A few hours later and I still have the glasses on, but I have had several reminders from Alex that I really should put my contacts back in.

....At least he's honest!

Here are a few more pictures I wanted to post.

Celebrated Too Soon

Just called the NICU and it looks like Ian is back on the vent. He was having some trouble with his CO2 levels and just couldn't handle it yet. Hopefully it won't be too long before he's off again. Hard news to hear, but at least he had a few days off of it.

Can't Wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's quite ridiculous that this is something so exciting in my life that I feel I need to blog about it.... but it totally is! I cannot wait for tonight! A new season of The Office! I love this show sooo much. The awkward moments with Michael, the Jim and Pam relationship, everything about Dwight! It just makes for the best show! Below is a link of one of my favorite clips from the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5jcWt0vH-M

Just a few more hours!!!

NO MORE VENT!

I just called the NICU and they informed me that Ian is off the ventilator. This is great news!!! We just have to see now how he does being off of it. He had a few more episodes where he has dropped his stats, so they're going to see if that is getting any better. But at least he is off that darn thing. I'll keep ya all posted if I find out anything else!

8th Anniversary

Today, Ryan and I "celebrated" our 8th anniversary. By celebrated, I mean we saw each other for a total of an hour today and got to say Happy Anniversary to each other :( We will hopefully get to do something this coming weekend since Ryan does not have work or school. But I pulled our wedding album out today and was reminiscing about the past eight years. It has gone by so fast. We've had many heartaches, but so many more amazing blessings! The three main ones being Alex, Darek and Ian. Never on this day eight years ago would I have imagined our life happening the way it has. But I can honestly say, I wouldn't change any part of it. I hate that we have gone through infertility, but if we hadn't, we wouldn't have our beautiful little boys now. I am excited (and a little weary) of what will lay ahead for us. But I am so grateful to know that Ryan will be by my side through the whole thing!

I tried scanning of a few of our wedding pictures, but for some reason it didn't work. So instead I took pictures of the pictures. (Ah, how did we ever manage without digital cameras??) They aren't the best quality, but it works.

It's amazing looking at us, knowing how young we were. (Ryan just turning 22, and me being a week before I turned 19.) But we have made it through just fine so far!

I love the way we are looking at each other in these pictures. You can just see the love. And in these past eight years, that love has grown so much stronger!

Such Awesome Nurses!!

I had the social worker from the hospital Ian is staying call me today to let me know that one of the nurses took some pictures of Ian and wanted to email them to me. I am so happy to see any pictures of our little boy. So if anyone at the hospital is reading this, THANK YOU! You don't know what this means to us!

Here are the pictures that were sent to me...

I was so happy to see that they have his giraffe in bed with him. I got a giraffe for each of the boys while I was back in Virginia. Darek has his in bed with him, so it was wonderful to see Ian's.

Video of Darek crying

I felt like a terrible mother while taking this video. But everyone I talk to doesn't believe that he can cry loudly because he is so little. Not the case. He only cries when he is hungry or when he has a tummy ache. I also happened to catch him sneezing while I took this video. His whole body shakes when he sneezes. Isn't everything so much cuter when a baby does it?!?

More pictures of Darek

There are just so many cute pictures, I have to post more. I have decided though, that we really need a new camera. I've wanted one for a long time, but cannot bring myself to get one. Maybe soon... when we have money. ha ha ha ha!!!

He has such stunning eyes (when he is actually awake and you can see them).

He's still at the stage where he can't control his body, so I get a lot of blurry pictures because of it

I just like this one.

This was taken today. He had JUST woken up and wanted to eat right then. He is not a patient boy when it comes to getting fed. I will be posting a video in the next minute or two so people can actually hear him cry. He has some lungs on him for being such a tiny little guy.

Alex Is Way Too Smart

I had a learning moment as a mother the other day. We went to McDonald's for lunch. Alex was extremely excited because they had new Batman toys for the happy meals. So we went and ate and he got his awesome toy. Well, a few hours later, after playing with the toy A LOT, it stopped working correctly. Alex was heartbroken. He asked if we could go get a replacement for it. I told him maybe if we were out later that night, we could stop by and ask them. Well, we were out later that night, but forgot to bring the broken one with us. I decided to go ahead and try anyway. We went to the counter and I explained that we had gotten a toy earlier that day. I told them it broke and we had thrown it away. (We had not yet thrown it away, but planned to once we got the replacement.) They had no problem giving us a replacement. But as we were leaving, Alex said, "Mom, why did you lie to them?" Taken aback, I asked him what he meant. He said, "Well, you told them that we threw the toy away, and we didn't. Why would you tell them that?" WOW! I said a lot of "um's" and "well, uh", but told him he was right, that it was an actual lie I had told. I tried explaining to him, but told him I was really happy that he could recognize that it was wrong.

I forget that I really have to watch what I do and say now. Alex is so smart and such a good boy. He is so good to me when I'm having a really bad day or am upset. Just tonight, he made sure we sat down and had a little talk about our feelings. It's so sweet that he is always so concerned about the well-being of every member of our family. Sweet boy!

So Grateful

I just got off the phone with the NICU in Virginia. Even though this may not seem huge, it's huge to me. The nurse was telling me that Ian is only DAYS away from getting off the ventilator!! He is doing so well with the changes they've made that it really looks like it will be very soon! It is such a relief to me! The only thing after that will be getting him to eat. That can take a matter of weeks, or a few months. It all depends on how well Ian takes to it. And there is absolutely no way for anyone to know how well he'll do since he has never tried to eat on his own before. So once he is off the vent and they start the feeds, they'll have a better idea of a discharge date. And it's at that point that we will try to determine if it's better for him to be transferred here or just remain there and have me come get him. I'm just so happy!

On a side note, I want to express to my amazing husband, Ryan, how much I love him and how much he means to me. He has taken on so much in the past couple weeks with work and school and has not once complained to me about it. He loves his boys so much! And I know how much he loves me as well. I don't know what I did to deserve such an amazing man. One that I can talk to, cry with, and play with. He is my perfect match and my best friend. I love you so much Ryan!