My Babies-- A day in the life

I just had to share a pic from mother's day this year. They are growing so fast. Every day they do something new! They are FINALLY getting to a point where they are playing really well together. Addison is really starting to talk now. Their conversations catch me off-guard daily! I love them with all of my heart.

 Sweet Addi girl loves her babies. She has even taken some after me playing with them, and talks in a different little voice when she is talking for her baby dolls. It is too funny! Brayden dressed himself today.... but you can't tell can you? It didn't help that I was going through stuff to donate to goodwill when he was picking his outfit! -- Yes, those are socks and crocks! The hat was added later.

Addison is such a little mommy. She mothers everything. Here she is playing with her carseat and lamb. She totes around something with her most everywhere she goes. Brayden picked out a little monster toy that has a see through belly so that you can see what it has eaten the last time we went to Toys R Us. Addison decided that she wanted to be it's mommy. They fought over it for three days! Addison would take the little monster and wrap him up in baby blankets and cook for him and feed him bottles and rock him to sleep. Then Brayden would get ahold of him and growl and make it eat other toys and throw it until Addison caught wind that he was mistreating her little baby. There is never a dull moment!

But, Brayden has decided that some of the stuff Addi does is pretty fun too! They are so different in how they play. I try and encourage them to play together. (They are best friends after all) -- Within a few minutes Brayden had his puppy all strapped into the carseat... complete with a blanket to cover him up with. ( Which is pretty good for puppy, since he then ran as fast as he could down the hallway with it screaming... "don't fall out.... weee weee weee")

Brayden may be all boy, but he is very sweet. He loves to snuggle and has gotten quite attached to this puppy that Addison got for Christmas. (We will wait a few years before we break it to him that it is actually hers) He loves to snuggle and hug and kiss. He tells everyone that he loves them and tells mommy and sissy that they are pretty. He is terrified of bugs, water, and the dark, and about any noise that you could make. And then there is Addison. Who is completely little miss girly girl. Who is afraid of nothing. She loves bugs and animals and would do anything by herself if you would let her. It amazes me how contrasting their personalities are. They are so sweet, and loving and innocent. They have changed my life so much.

Brayden just got out of bed asking for porridge! I guess I had better wrap this up!

Our little Buggy Friends

So, a thanks to all of my friends who correctly identified the little buggy visitor picture I posted on my facebook page. We have a Box Elder Bug (or Beetle) picnic going on on my front porch!! I am not exaggerating when I say that there are hundreds or even thousands of these little guys out there! I got out the Ortho Home Defense spray before I even knew what they were and sprayed the doorway, all of the little cracks in our concrete and around the flower beds before we left the house yesterday. They were crawling out of everywhere! It was a little creepy, then I sprayed a pile of leaves.....

EEEKkkkkkk!!!

Last year I noticed a few of these little guys, and thought nothing of it. This year, is a completely different ballgame. There are too many to not notice! Luckily, upon doing a little research, they are actually quite friendly little bugs. They are called Box Elder Bugs (or beetles). It turns out, we have a female box elder maple tree in our front yard... who knew?( Those are the trees whose seeds are the ones that you throw in the air and they come to the ground like a helicopter!! ) They don't sting or bite, but they stink (in large numbers) and stain when they are squished (which also makes their smell potent). Their smell attracts more of the beetles. I am really glad that they are friendly, but I still want them gone. They shouldn't be a problem as long as the weather is warm, but when winter arrives, they attempt to move in to somewhere warm... ie... my house!!

Here is a little buggy close up for you to enjoy.. :)  After reading up on them a little bit, I do feel for the little guys a bit. They only live for a few days as the individual bug life goes. They like syrup and enjoy sunning themselves on particularly warm days. --- sound familiar---- these bugs are me in my teenage years!! They congregate together because they like company! They spend hours on the telephone and enjoy reading any gossip magazines and often take the car without filling up the tank on its return.... wait... maybe that last part was me!! Either way, I have already poisoned the little suckers.... and hopefully it works! I don't want this to turn into a full fledged war! I don't think I would win either. They can fly up to two miles, and there are a lot of these trees in my neighborhood. Hopefully our tree will be somewhat less desirable until we get the house sold... they they can have it back! It was a little scary that most Internet sites suggested getting rid of the tree as the best defense. That tree is home value!!! Minus a couple thousand bugs that is!! Wish us luck!!

And so we march.....

Today was our first Walk with Brayden with the March of Dimes. I am so humbled by the amount of support that we have received from our friends and family over these last three years. It was honestly the hardest thing that I have ever done! I sit in tears now as I think back to our time of struggle that we went through.... I held them back on and off all day. He is still my little miracle baby, and we were so blessed during all of his hospitalization and journey through all of this. Others aren't as lucky. I knew this throughout everything. I hid tears and being overwhelmed because I felt guilt to cry or be upset when my baby was doing so much better than most babies in his position. I mostly cried because of the knowledge of what exactly we had avoided and what still at any moment could go wrong.

My work family helped me more than they ever could know. I was lucky enough to be hospitalized where I work. They were always there. Through it all.... always asking how we were doing (and genuinely caring), bringing me food while I was on bed rest, bringing Brayden things that a baby should have since we did not have time for a shower. They even threw him a welcoming. I was lucky enough to get to work with such an amazing group of women. Just knowing that if I had a need, someone was there, was a blessing. --- And they prayed for us--- I know it because I prayed with many of them.-- THANK YOU.

The walk was really great. The weather was perfect, and the children were very well behaved! They just were more than happy to be out and about. It really was an awesome feeling to be surrounded by people who were there either because they shared a similar experience, or they were there supporting someone because they cared that much. Thank you to everyone who came to walk with us. It means so much to us. And also thank you to everyone who purchased t-shirts. He has sold 46 so far, and we will be putting in another order soon! I really do want Brayden to grow up knowing why we do this. I want him to know that it is for him, because he went through a lot in his journey, and we were blessed beyond measure to get to keep him!

When you register for the walk for your team, they send you over to the family tent, where you get your balloon. Purple balloons are for survivors and white balloons are for babies lost. I almost burst into tears right there! Then you walk by seeing other walkers with their respected balloons. They walk in memory, while I get to walk in honor... but yet we walk together. It is beyond touching. And again, I felt some guilt that some of those women with their white balloons had to be looking at my baby wondering what theirs would be like now. Here is a picture of Brayden with his purple balloon... because he is a Survivor!! I had never really thought of it in that light before. Sure... I knew that he had survived, and I knew that we could have lost him. But that he was a little fighter, and he took us all on his journey with him. He has taught me more in three years than I could have ever imagined possible.

At the end of the walk you release your balloon. (Brayden didn't really want to let his go, but he finally did) We walked through the finish line and everyone cheered and applauded. Brayden clapped for himself. I just smiled, and was really glad that mommy was wearing sunglasses! I was just overwhelmed with a sense of thankfulness.





Above is a picture of the "March with Boogie" team. Again.... thank you all so much again for coming!! And a picture of Brayden and Daddy marching.  He has come so far!!

Holding Daddy's Finger

Our little man

He was so tiny!!



One more....



Here is the link to our March of Dimes Page.http://www.marchforbabies.org/s_team_page.asp?seid=1845260&bt=15  There you can donate money, read our story or just learn how you can get involved with the organization. Brayden was born at 29 weeks (almost 3 months too soon) from preeclampsia. We stayed in the NICU for 47 days before we were released. He is now three years old with no delays at all. He is so smart, so loving and so full of life! We have been truly blessed!