Birthday BBQ

We had a BBQ on Sunday for Isaac's 28th Birthday. We had a wonderful time and the weather was beautiful. His birthday was last week, but we just got around to celebrating this weekend. We had kabobs and Isaac's mom was able to join us. It was pretty fun. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!!

Emerson spraying the bugs. (His favorite game lately.)

Emerson and Mommy. (Thanks mom and dad for the great Christmas present - patio furniture!)

Cade's new favorite thing is to lay on his tummy and look at himself in a mirror
Looking at Grandma

Blowing out the candles on the cake. (Dang plant is in the way!) Oh, don't mind the partly painted walls in the back. We are really struggling with a paint color choice. We've changed it 3 times!

Capri had to wrap up her bear and let him come out for the BBQ. It was cute.

Pretty Capri. Her eczema is so bad! (Notice her elbow and legs.) We are meeting with an allergist and a dermatologist at Phoenix Children's hospital to try and help the poor thing!

Cade hanging out during the BBQ

Isaac and his new BBQ. This was his birthday present from me and my parents.

Emerson eating his dinner.

Sweet baby boy, sleeping like always.

My precious children

Our conversation today went something like this:

Capri to me: What's your name?
Me: Ashley
Capri: No, your name's mommy. What's Daddy's name?
Me: Isaac
Capri: No, he's name is daddy.
Emerson to Capri: Capri, big people call them Isaac and Ashley, but we just call them mommy and daddy, 'cause that's what they are. When we grow up, we better call them mommy and daddy still 'cause we don't want them to stop being it ever.

No, my dear child, I will never stop being your mommy. I love you with all my heart!

Random pictures

Capri playing with Cade and helping me with dishes.

Then of course Emerson needed in on the fun.

He's starting to figure out how to make funny faces in pictures. It's cute, sometimes. . .

Capri is so into still being the "baby" that sometimes she wants me to swaddle her just like Cade. It's actually cute to see her lay there and relax.

How cute is he?

We are trying to get Capri to sleep in a toddler bed. She fights it to the bitter end. We end up putting her back in her crib most nights.

He's getting bigger! This is the onsie he wore home from the hospital. I can't believe he was that small!!

He is so handsome!

My boys. Emerson is so in love with his baby brother. It is so cute. They have a brother bond already.

RSV/Apnea

So, Cade was truly "initiated" into our family by having a hospital stay. (I guess you could count right after he was born, but we knew we could do better than that. JK) Anyway, he has had a cold the past week, but Sunday he was really acting sick. We were getting ready for bed and heard his really struggling. When I got to him, he was struggling to breath/stopped breathing. I was able to turn him over and do a tiny Heimlich maneuver and he threw up. Isaac and I loaded him into the front seat of the car (there was no way I was putting him where I couldn't see him) and rushed to the closest ER. (Which was 2 min away, which is why we didn't call 911.) They could tell right when I ran in that he wasn't doing well, so we were rushed right back. (Lucky because they were pretty crowded.) He had a couple Apnea spells and tested positive for RSV, so they admitted us into the hospital where we spend a long two days. When all this was happening I just kept thinking "you've GOT to be kidding me." I've already had my experience with kids in the hospital. I swear our medical bills over the last 4 1/2 years have funded full wings of hospitals. He did well in the hospital, but then when they went to release him, he had a fever. Fevers in newborns are really bad so we had to do yet another series of tests before they let him home. I was so tired, not sleeping and when I was it was on the TINIEST bed ever. It was seriously the size of a crib mattress. I actually held up really well, until the doctor came in and told me that he was glad that we acted to fast, because he had stopped breathing a couple times because of his extreme congestion (babies apparently don't learn how to breath out of there mouths for a while) and that we had saved his life and he would have died. I broke down. (I have to say, Isaac was as upset as he's ever been about a child being the hospital. We've had sick kids, but never faced them dying. Hard to even think about.) Good thing Isaac and I are both CPR/First Aid certified. They actually had us take a refresher course before they would release him. We now have all these precautions to take because of the Apnea and let's just say, I'm not really sleeping well. It was quick the couple days. He's still a little sick, but we saw the doctor today and he is getting better. We are so thankful for the gospel. Oh, one more thing. I really encourage ALL people who are around children/babies to become CPR/First Aid certified. You never imagine actually needing it, but it's nice to have training if it is.

Renaissance Fair

We went to the Renaissance Fair on Saturday. It was pretty fun, but it was really hot. The kids had a great time, but they were a little to young to really appreciate anything. Their favorite thing was the hat shop and Emerson wants to go back and get "the kitty hat." We got our photos taken in full renaissance clothes. Isaac and I looked really bad, so I cut us out of the photo. Cade was pretty mad, but the kids looked great. Every one's only interested in what the kids looked like, right??? We will have to go next year when Emerson is bigger. He'd really like all the jousting shows and sword fights. Maybe a daddy/son date.

Cute kids

Here are just some random cute pictures of the kids. It's been such nice weather outside that we spend most of our days playing in the back yard. We are trying to move a bunch of rocks to clear a place for a garden and Emerson has been a great help at doing that for us. (Any excuse to play with rocks, right?) Capri is doing good with potty training, but will only go if I ask her too. I can't wait until she goes on her own. That will be great. Cade is as sweet as ever. He has a bit of a cold right now, but nothing bad and just sleeps most the day, still. He absolutely loves to lay in the bean bags that we got the kids. It's cute. We may have to go get a third one for him! (Oh sorry Capri looks like a waif, it was first thing in the morning.)

St. Patrick's Day

So, we had a really fun day yesterday. We decided to make everything as "green" as possible. I couldn't find the green food coloring, so we had to settle for other things, like the green colored container on the sprite. I tried to find all green dishes, clothes, and I even dyed their bath green and let them pick out all the green bath toys to play with. They got a kick out of it. The bath picture makes me laugh, because Emerson is pointing out a cut on his knee and Capri is all concerned about it. It was funny!