Sick

Seems as though it's going around.  We have been very sick.  I don't know what it was, or where it came from-but it's on it's way out the door and I am so grateful. It was AWFUL. I had it, complete with the nausea, fever, night sweats accompanied with freezing, body aches, etc.  That was bad.  But when the kids tag teamed me and got it the same night (while Kris was gone of course) with the fevers of 102.8, the crying, the throwing up, the aching, trying to hold and comfort them both at the same time, snot everywhere, etc.  Let's just say the TV has been on for 6 days straight because all they feel like doing is laying around.  We are FINALLY getting better, although Reese still doesn't sleep for more than 2 hours at a time (this started 6 days ago) and pretty much wants to be carried everywhere.  It has been really rough.  Spring has seemed to be bringing about changes around here.  Good or bad, we aren't sure yet, but we will keep you posted.

11 Months

Reese turned 11 months on the 22nd. But we have been recovering from being sick.  So I thought I would wait a couple of days to post a pic instead of posting a pale, eye sunken, picture of him.  Before he got sick he was crawling ALL over the place-very quickly.  AND starting to cruise along the furniture.  As he has felt better, he has started up again.

Check out those teeth!

...still not feeling ALL better yet.

but we are getting there!

The Zoo

I had been pretty sick for 2 days and decided enough was enough. It was supposed to be one of the prettiest days so far, so I sucked it up and took the kiddos to the zoo. It was a perfect day to go, and we saw lots of animals (and lots o' animal bums).  I had remembered the Knoxville Zoo being kind of lame, so I don't know if they have done a lot since I had been there last, or if it was the fact that the boys could enjoy it so much-maybe both.  Either way, we had so much fun and we completely worn out by the end of the day.

This is George, he is almost 2 years old, and super cute.

Abram was fascinated with the zebras. He watched them just like this while I fed Reese a bottle. You would have thought they were doing something terribly exciting, and yet, this is what they were doing....

But Reese thought it was pretty entertaining himself.  You couldn't help but be happy, it really was the perfect day.

All the animals were visible, even if most of them were catching an afternoon nap....

or just hanging out.

Like I said, we were all worn out.  Little did I know, Abram and Reese would be up at midnight with high fevers and it would be their turn to endure being sick.

Bubbles for Reese

This is Abram "surprised" as you can tell by the open mouth.

Things to Remember

I have talked about it before, but I am going to make my blog a book.  SO sometimes I will have posts that are just for me.  That being said, I have been thinking a lot of things that I want to remember.  Things that the kids do or say that I am afraid I will forget as they get older.  The boys change and grow everyday.  All the little old ladies that said to me things like, "They get too big too fast." or "You'll blink, and hey will be big." I rolled my eyes and yet I find myself seeing exactly what they mean.  Without further adue, "Things to Remember"....

Reese's laugh is one of the greatest things I have ever heard in my life. I can't listen to it without smiling and getting misty eyed.

Abram is obsessed with fire trucks, and ambulances (which he calls "ambiances").  Every time he hears one he screams, "OH NO! Somebody is in trouble! They are going to help!" He has a fierce imagination, and is always coming up with new games to play and stories to tell.  He is learning to tell jokes, but will use the same punch line even while changing the beginning of the joke (i.e. Knock knock jokes) but thinks they are hilarious anyway, even if it's the 70 milionth time-expecting you to laugh just as hard each time.

Reese will grab the hair on either side of my face and pull me to him to give me the biggest, wettest kiss you can imagine.  He plays with my hair when I hold him, instead of pulling it.

Abram is really sensitive about things.  He saw a car crash on TV and it really bothered him, to the point he cried.  We finally got passed that (after days of talking about it) when we were stopped in traffic for 45 minutes, because of a wreck where the car flipped on it's side.  He cried again, and he still continues to say, "I don't like that car on the side". He is really tender about people's feelings.  He will seem generally uninterested and then show the sweetest affection to his brother, or cousin Isaac when they get upset.  When we were in the car coming back from Ohio and Isaac started to cry, Abram calmed him instantly by saying, "It's okay baby Isaac, don't cry." and patting him gently. (Note: This isn't always the case, however, this is titled "Things to Remember" not "Things I Want to Forget".  Although, come to think of it, that may be a future post.)

Reese can light up a room.  He can make the grumpiest of people smile.  He can sense the kindness in people easily, and will freely go with people that he finds kind and genuine.  He will also reach quickly for Mommy when he senses otherwise.

Abram is also obsessed with superheroes (hmmm...wonder where he gets that from?).  We are superheroes every day at some point.  He even incorporates them into Primary Sharing time at church.  When the teacher was telling a story about a man falling into a hole (relating to how our Savior helps us) Abram stands up with one arm in the air mid-story and yells, "THEN I would be a sUUperhero! And I would go down and SAVE him!!"  (There will be a Abram Sunday School post coming soon.)

They both LOVE fiercely.  They love with all of the hearts.  And they are sure in love with their Daddy.  I am so grateful for these boys and it does seem like time is going by too fast.

I am so grateful to be their mother.

A Needed Update (and a lotta pictures)

Sorry, it's been a while....and a lot has gone on.  Let's see, where to begin?  Kris was gone for 2 1/2 weeks-and I am not going to lie, it was hard, really hard. But the boys and I can do really hard things, and we did.  We survived, and we missed him so much. 

We survived things like....teething. Inserting extra pitiful picture now-

I don't remember a lot about Abram teething-except that the top two were the WORST.  As is with the Reese miester.  So I tried what worked with Abram, tylenol +

So we are one down, one to go.  Kris was out of town for the teething experience, I am wondering if he planned it that way.....hmmmm.
Kris came home, then I got to go

with 3 ladies I didn't know very well.  We talked very easily and I enjoyed making friends with them.  In many ways, it was exactly what I needed.

We also went to Ohio to see my family.  Myself, the boys, my Mom, my Sis, and my cute Nephew went for a long weekend.  My Grandma isn't doing too well, and because of circumstances with the kiddos we didn't get to see her :(.  It was nice to see family, unfortunately we didn't get a lot of pictures.  Now that we all have kids, it's harder to take pictures.  In fact, now that I think of it, we were very close to being outnumbered.  But the boys had SO much fun.

Abram got a VIP tour of the local fire station being that 2 of my cousins are fire fighters/EMTs.  However, because of the cold, the doors were all closed which caused the trucks to seem really big and the station to seem really small.  Abram was a wee bit traumatized.  Then the lights were turned on, Abram said, "That's not too scary." And then the horn was honked (Shawn) and Abram lost it.  It stinks because I think had the doors been open he would have done fine.  And my cousins had opened all of the trucks and ambulances for Abram and Kate to look through.  There were fire suits laid out to play with, etc.  The nervous breakdown was interrupted by a call, so the ambulance had to leave.  I was worried of the consequences of this, however, Abram just yelled, "Oh no! Somebody's in trouble! They are going to save them!" and that was that.  In the car he said, "That was a little bit scary, but when I get bigger and I am a firefighter than I can drive the truck and it won't be scary."  

Today we went here.

It's pretty famous, it was on the Simpsons ya know.

You don't realize how big it really is,

until you are inside.

The black speck next to the tree beside the road is a person!

Then we found a pretty sweet park (prepare for pictures of cute kids overload).

I wish I would have got on video him yelling "Thiiiiiiiis iiiiiiis awwwwwesome!!!!

The best part? We beat the rain.