new favorites...

we got home from working out today, and nora said "i really want to watch roar bean show (madagascar)". i said "maybe later". she said "i REALLY REALLY want to watch roar bean show". she won. it was too cute to say no to.

i am starting to love the unprompted "i love you" she says. or, when jamey is crying, how she will go over to him and say "it's okay baby james. mommy is right here". sometimes it's "you look pretty today mommy" (mind you, i might still be in jammies, or sweaty from a workout!)

recently, and it may have something to do with mom-mom leaving, she is super clingy. she keeps saying "just one baby" and "put baby james here" (here being wherever he can go that is safe.... excersaucer, on a blanket...)

the video is her reading her favorite book "fifteen animals" after a song by the same name, all by sandra boynton. she is obsessed with this book/song. she knows it by heart, and turns the pages at the appropriate time. she communicates so well, and it so often surprises people that she's only two.

jamey, however, is saying "dadada". it's so cute! i will work on getting a video of it. and he's doing really well with his casts. i just feel bad because he seems to so overheat in the sun. but, still an angel! i love the way his body wiggles when he gets excited and sees you. he just smiles. all the time. it's so sweet!

alright, both kids are napping, so i am going to enjoy it!

dog beach...

it's been hot recently, even at the beach. and, we have a yard that we play with sadie in. so, we haven't gone to dog beach in awhile. but, we went yesterday. we had SO MUCH fun!

nora loved to run to and from the waves. i am continually impressed by her. she got knocked over, and swam and kept her head above the water!

fun on the beach!

more cuteness...

cute new outfit from south africa from our good friends, the johnsons!

jamey watching tv from last week... this one scares me!

riding her tricycle with zoey!

yesterday, we went to visit daddy for lunch...

nora and jamey LOVE their daddy!!

cheese with mom-mom

this morning, my mom and i realized that it was awfully quiet in the back. i went back to find this... man, is she my daughter, or what? also, she is her daddy's daughter! we are going to raise a family of readers!

this morning, nora got out her play cake and said "sing happy to you". so, we sang "happy birthday" about ten times. poor child loves it! she would sing and just clap at the end! can't wait till we can celebrate another birthday!

last night, she was playing in her new house. she hit some buttons on the "phone" and said "i'd like a milkshake, please". umm... scary!!

today, i asked nora not to do something. she did it. i disciplined her and asked her to say "i'm sorry for disobeying" to me. she wouldn't. i told her if she didn't, she would go to her room for a timeout. she told me "i'm not saying i'm sorry". my mom didn't hear it right and thought she was saying i'm sorry, so she asked nora. nora said "i will NOT say i'm sorry". umm... again, scary!

cross one off...

last wednesday night, i crossed something off of my bucket list. i went backstage at a concert. it was one of the top ten nights of my life! i am going to do my best to describe it to you.

this is us, eating at catering backstage... with the band and crew!

the girls and cathy!! (one of my mom's friends- her hubby gave us the tour and royal treatment)

yes, this is a tour bus. and yes, it was as cool as you would imagine!

hanging out on the tour bus! (actually, all the band members were off the bus, but it was still AWESOME!)

the methodicalness of which they load and unload all the equipment would make any ocd-er happy! all the same... mark told us that you have to check the sheet and date to figure out what city are you in, since they all start to look the same!

cc... from poison during soundcheck (got to hear the soundcheck... so fun and so cool to see the "house" with no one in it!)

the girls with cathy and mark... who are good friends of my parents.

with rick allen... the drummer

with rick savage.

with joe elliott

rocking out! okay, so we got there just after 5 (the concert started at 7pm), and kept going through gate after gate until we got to one with a list. they checked the list, and my name was on it. we parked there... it was us, like 10 semis and several tour buses.

we were met by mark, who gave us all special backstage passes. he started showing us around and introducing us. it was SO COOL to hear about how everything worked... loading and unloading buses, soundchecks, all different aspects of the tour.

we got to chat with a few of the band members... i should mention it was def leppard we were seeing. they were so cool and down to earth... chatting about golf games and pregnant wives. then, we ate in catering, amidst more band members, crew and production staff.

soon, it was time for the show to start. mark walked us out to our seats... like fifth row! poison went on first... and then def leppard. it was so fun to see these rock stars performing. we had just talked to them, and they were normal people! fun to see the metamorphosis. i mean, some of them had showered and shaved, and we could tell! and, i felt like they were looking for us in the crowd. it felt like a private concert that everyone else got to enjoy, too.

i can't even describe HOW MUCH FUN it was! then, when it was over, mark ushered us out quickly to make sure that we didn't get into too much traffic. there were a few times that night when we were walked into "secure" areas where he would say "they're with me". "we're with the band..." - thanks mark!!

well, i guess i don't have a bucket list, per se, but if i did, i could cross this one off my bucket list! i highly recommend it! and, i am now a huge def leppard fan!!!

the weekend...

it was a GORGEOUS day! we went out side for a minute and ended up spending over an hour outside playing this afternoon. it was like 70* and sunny! and, because it was the "golden hour", i got some great shots of the fam!!

snuggling on the grass

daddy and his two babies!!! (and a dog...)

tummy time today!!! watching the browns game...

not sure that david could have been more proud!!

btw... james is doing awesome! doesn't seem to be in pain at all!

a wonderful, poolside picnic

nora loved the poolside sandbox!!

we spent saturday with lu and jeanie. so many of my fun memories involve them! so glad the same will be true of my kids!

kissing aunt lu's boo-boo. she was so concerned about aunt lu!

dancing with aunt lu... going to a "party" at the pool!

mom-mom bought nora a new house on friday. nora loved it!!

sweet, sleeping baby girl!

a few vids... nora singing (she loves to sing the "night-night" song to james! it's precious!!... and her new house! quite the little hostess! and finally, swimming this weekend. something just kicked in and she was awesome! on her own to and from the stairs/wall and me. she would go up to the top of the stairs everytime and turn to lu, jeanie and mom-mom and say "yeah, i did it!". it was too cute. but, she was so brave and really got the concept of swimming! i couldn't have been more proud. i was so worried about her not being in swimming lessons this summer... guess we didn't need them!!

surgery...

working backwards... silly blogger doesn't upload my pictures the right way! no matter how hard i try! at home in his mom-mom's arms!

just before he fell asleep in my arms before the surgery.

snuggling while waiting for the doctors, etc...

getting all the vitals. he's 18 1/2 pounds with the casts on. and 26 inches.

on the way to the hospital... my sweet baby james!

hanging out with daddy while i got all our bags ready and loaded.

walked out to the car and this is what i saw. except, it was even more beautiful than it turned out in the pictures! a reminder that God is the artist of all...
james at home. he was getting a little hungry again, but is mostly happy!

so, our morning. left here at 6:20 am. (by the way, james woke up at 4am to eat... didn't even have to use my alarm!) got to the hospital and all registered, then walked to the surgical suites. waiting for awhile and james did great. then, they did the vitals and consent to surgery. wait some more... and it was about this time i could tell he was really getting hungry. but, he never cried and i made david hold him so he couldn't smell his food TOO much. then, sleep started winning out over hunger, so i held him and rocked him to sleep. he fell asleep just before they took him back. the docs were all great and explained everything to a very informed mother. (by the way, he got the same combo of drugs as michael jackson... propophal and fentanyl) then, i handed him off to the nurse. that was hard, because she didn't seem to snuggle him like i would have! but, he did fine. kinda woke up and looked at me like, "i was sleeping here... what's going on??" it was 8:30.

and we waited... david went and got us a breakfast for champions (mcdonald's). and waited. they called us back at 9:05 into another room. at 9:15, the doctor came in and said he did great and would be out soon. at 9:55, they called me back. and was he ever MAD! (and those 40 minutes of waiting might have been the longest of my life!!) he was getting sugar water in a bottle, and i got ready to nurse. he alternated screaming and nursing, mostly nursing. then, the nurse took out his iv. he was not a fan! but, he nursed really well!! after about 15 minutes, we got moved out of the recovery room into the discharge room. they told me we would be there about an hour. james snuggled back into my arms and fell asleep. i still hadn't seen him open his eyes. the tech came and tried to take his blood pressure (on the same arm his iv just came out of, which hurts like crazy!! but, she didn't want to do it on the other arm when i pointed that out!), and his bp wouldn't take. so, the nurse came in to do it. it was fine, so she came back with our discharge paper work and we were on our way! i was in the car, paying our parking fee an hour after i got into the recovery room!

he slept most of the way home... still hadn't seen his eyes. then, just as i got off of the highway, he started playing with his blanket, so sweetly and quietly. and, he's been fairly pleasant the whole day! he took a good nap and had eaten a few times. he was a little cranky when he woke up last time, but nothing like i expected! mostly, he's been smiling and playing!

as an aside... mom and nora got into the house and had a great morning! that's why we live next to an awesome fireman and his family!! (thanks guys!!)

thanks also for the emails, texts and phone calls. i can't tell you how much it meant just to see that you all were thinking of and praying for us! i tried calling some family members on the way to the hospital (david and i were in separate cars, because he was going to go to work afterwards- he didn't make it), and no one could talk. it was such a good reminder to me (as God always does in times like this) that i need to turn to Him for comfort! so, i did... and was very relaxed remembering "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. and may the peace of God which transcends all understanding guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus". that was the best medicine for me!

and, the same song i listened to all during my pregnancy played... "the pathway is broken, the signs are unclear. and i don't know the reason why you brought me here. but just because you love me the way that you do, i'm going to walk through the valley if you want me to"-ginny owens and, hopefully we are walking out of that valley. he gets his casts off in three weeks (they are red this time... we asked for orange, and red was what they had!) and then goes back to the shoes and bar/brace. i am PRAYING that they will only be at night, but we'll see. i am anticipating that it will be 24/7 for awhile. but, that for awhile, then just at night until he's four. (barring any unforeseen circumstances...)

thanks... for all the hailes!

Hi! It's Mom-Mom (also known as Michelle's Mom, and Krissy), just letting everybody know that Michelle just called and James got out of surgery about 9:30. Then Michelle and David had to wait about 40 minutes for him to be extubated. They are now with James, who is groggy and in pain, but was able to nurse a little bit and is now in his mommy's arms. All is well.

I, in the meantime, was locked out of their house and David told me the only way to get in was to climb over the 6 foot fence. Thankfully, their next door neighbor, Matt, got home just as I was thinking about how I was going to climb over, not to mention what I would do with Nora while I was climbing over! Matt was A LOT more graceful than I would have been! that is a visual - me climbing over the fence!!!