The first day of spring!

Today was officially the first day of spring! We decided even though it was cold, we would brave it and got to the park for a picnic. This was Cameron's first trip to the park being able to walk. he was a little tentative at first, but finally went down the slide and through the tunnel.

spring has sprung!

As you can see the boys are enjoying the nice weather! You can also see the boys in their green shirts from St. Patricks Day!

A woman of strength.

On Monday my mother entered the hospital to have a full knee replacement. Unfortunately the OR got backed up and she was told at 5:00pm that they would admit her and have to do the surgery in the morning. What a complete let down. She hadn't eaten all day and was in a lot of pain because they had taken her off of her arthritis medication. They took her up to her room and She was finally able to have something to eat, and get some sleep. She was taken into surgery at 7:30am the next morning and was done in 2 hours.
My mother has always been the face of strength in our family, the peace keeper, the strong one! Seeing her laid up in a bed was not easy, but it only took minutes to realize that she hadn't lost her caring nature. She was already asking us if we'd eaten, she didn't want us to leave to late etc. The day after the surgery (wednesday) She got up and was walking! All the nurses and physical therapists were amazed at how well she was doing. Although she was sore and tired she kept a smile on her face and tried to do everything they told her to do. Thursday was a little tougher for her as was today, but although she has her moments as anyone would she has shown such strength to comethrough this as quickly as she has.
My mother is the most amazing, loving, sensative, selfless person I have ever known. She truly is an inspiration to me everyday of my life. I only hope to be as giving of myself as she is. So here's to you mom!!! I love and admire the person that you are! I can't wait for you to be home.

Fun in the Snow

The other day when it wasn't too cold out we decided to let the kids go play in the snow on the deck. Cameron was quite mad that he couldn't go though. We thought since he still had the stent in it wasn't a good idea.

2 Days post surgery

This is the position Cameron has been in since we got home Friday at 5:00pm. We arrived at MGH at 8:00 am. Cameron was taken back and put on a small pair of hospital pants and a johnny. They took his vitals and asked us all the usuaul questions, they let him go back out into the waiting room where all th etoys were. By this point he knew something was up and didn't want to play anymore, They called us back into a room where brian and I put on hospital gowns, booties, and hair nets. We were then taken back to a room where we met the anestesiologist. we signed all the consent forms and the anestesiologist decided to give Cameron some meds by mouth to help him calm down. within about 5 minutes cameron was smiling and laughing. you could see that his eyes weren't focusing on anything, they walked us across the hall to the operating room where they had me lay him on the table. They put a mask on his face and within a few breaths he was asleep. By far this is the worst part, you have to leave your child in the hands of other people all the while having the image of your child with his eyes rolled back in his headand for all intents and purposes looking dead. we were allowed to take our masks down to give him a kiss and then were escorted out of the room. Yes this is when I broke down, this wasn't a huge surgery but all the bad thoughts go through your head like, what if he doesn't wake up, or his heart stops. Pushing all the emotions aside Brian and I went to the cafeteria, they had our cell phone number and told us they would be in touch with us during the surgery (something they never did) He went in for surgery at 10:00 and at 1:30 the doctor took us into the family room where he told us the surgery went well. about 45 minutes later we were taken back to see him. He was still asleep and still had all the monitors on him. Not an image I liked seeing. about 5 minutes after we were there he woke quite suddenly trying to stand up in the crib. he sat with me for a while, while the anesthesia wore off. He had a spinal block so he wouldn;t feel any pain in the area. we were given the home care instructions, which included the care for the stent that was left in place and won't come out until Thursday, changing his diaper hasn't been fun! We came home gave him some tylenol with Codine and he went to bed early. he woke up every couple of hours, I finally took him into bed with us he slept a little better.
Saturday he was pretty miserable. My sister and Dave took Brady for the day which was a big help. by saturday night he seemed much better. Today (sunday) he seemed a little worse again, we have been monitorin a fever that has gotten up to 100.5. we're supposed to call the doctor if goes up to 101. We are praying that the fever stays at bay and that nothing is wrong. This has been tough on both of us but we are glad that we are having it fixed now, We couldn't imagine having this done at the age of three!
We want to thank everyone for all the well wishes and a big thank you to Brian's parents for taking Brady over night the day before the surgery, and thank you to Shanna and dave for taking brady the day after the surgery. You all made our lives alot easier!

Cameron is Walking

"Better late than never!" Cameron has now started walking this week....yeah! Then again, should we be happy or not? Not sure!!!

Cameron's Walking!!!!!

On Monday 2/9/09 Cameron Finally took his first real steps! he walked all the way around the kitchen island and then into the living room. He is doing it more and more now, but if he sees us watching too closely he'll drop down to his knees. We're going to try to catch it on video and post it soon, but wanted everyone to know the good news!

Also Cameron's surgery is scheduled for Friday February 27th. We're assuming we'll have to be at MGH early but we have to call the day before the surgery to get the official time.

Cameron 15 month update

Cameron had his 15 month check up last Friday. he weighed in at 21 lbs and was 32 inches long. He's healthy and although still not walking can manage to get anywhere that he wants. He is using lots of new words every day. he saya ball, more, nana (banana), up, cup, go, night night,. he allso uses the signs for, eat, more, all done, and just recently wait. he can identify his head, nose, eyes, and belly!

Cameron will be going in for surgery most likely some time in february to have the hypospadius fixed. It will be a day surgery and will come home with a catheter for about 7 days. I'll just be glad when it is over and done with!

Disney Slide show!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Disney Update

Well we left on Saturday and are still in Floriday. The weather has been beautiful about 70-75 and sunny! The boys are having an absolute BLAST! The plane ride went very well Cameron slept for part of it and Brady watched Curious George on the portable DVD player. Our first day here we tried to hit the magic Kingdom but it was packed so we only went on It's a small world and Pirates of the Carribean. Yesterday we spent the day at Epcot, Brady was facinated by spaceship earth! We came back fairly early to the hotel yesterday to make sure the boys got a good night sleep. Well sleep they did 12 hours for both of them and they were ready to go today. We did the morning at Animal Kingdom and the afternoon at Hollywood studios. Brian and I have been so pleasantly surprised with our kids. We always thought that Cameron would only nap in a bed but he has been napping on Brian in the Ergo (our saving grace) and has been sleeping for about 2 hours at a whack when he does sleep. I didn't think that our kids would like sitting through shows but they have absolutely LOVED them. Brady thought the Bugs life 3D show was a riot! they also saw the play house disney show which they BOTH LOVED and they likes the Muppet 3D show! Brady has also been so excited to see all the characters and get his picture taken with them. We waited in line for 25 minutes so he couls see Buzz and Woody from toy story.

It feels like a rare occasion that I actually get to spend so much quality time with my kids. even though I'm home with them I have daycare kids etc. and I don't get to give them 100% undivided attention. Brian and I have so enjoyed rediscovering our kids! getting to know their two individual personalities and I have to say they are pretty great and unique kids in their own ways. Cameron is trying to become so independant even though he can't walk, his latest trick has been standing up in the middle of the bed! and Brady is trying hard to act like the big brother. They both love to be silly and laugh but both can be so stubborn some times you want to strangle them! Tomorow we will head off to the magic Kingdom for our last day here. It has been fun! but I will also be glad to go home! We'll do a more detailed blog and post more pics and vidoe once we are home!

So Happy Together!

Now that Cameron is getting a little older, he and Brady have started playing together more. I now understand why my parents bought my sister and I two of everything just in dfferent colors. Brady tends to be pretty good with sharing or atleast tries to give Cameron a differnt toy to distract him while h takes the toy he wants. Ahhh problem solving skills at work! There other favorite thing to do now is to take bubble baths. Brady put the bubbles on his chin and said "Look, I'm Uncle Dave" Then he gave himself a mustach and said "Look I'm Dziadziu"

Cameron will be 16 months on the 25th and hasn't started walking yet but pulls himself up and cruises. He'll stand alone for a few seconds but then drops down to his knees ( he is still getting PT in the house and will be having his re-evaluation in February). As for talking he knows the signs for more, all done, and please. He says, byb-bye- night night, wiggles , ball and cup.

Brady is going to Preschool 2 mornings a week and has started recognizing his name, he knows all his colors and can count to 20. we are also working on letter recognition and he has one eto one correspondence up to 6. he no longer wears a pull up during nasp time and has recently started getting up in the middle of the night to go potty and has a dry pull up in the morning. He has asked to stop wearing them but he's not consistant enough yet.

We will be going to Disney for a couple of days in January, We leave on the 17th! we can't wait and neither can Brady, Cameron is still a little young but were sure he'll enjoy it anyway seeing as he LOVES music!

Brian and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful boys!

christmas scrapbook

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas 2008

Christmas for us started on Christmas eve at Brian's parent's house to celebrate vigilia. We had a nice dinner, opened gifts and then it was time to get the boys home so we could leave out cookies for santa and they could go to bed. In the wee hours of the morning we lost power so before the boys woke up Brian got the generator running so we could have our tree lit while we opened presents! The boys came downstairs to find that Santa had left us all gifts. Brady loved all of his toys especially his guitar and of course his new red car. Cameron loved his huge Pooh and his mickey ride on toy, but the best gift he got was the one Brady picked out for him, a Wiggle microphone that plays wiggle songs! The power still wasn't on when we finished opening gifts and we had a pan of squash that we were supposed to heat up before taking it to th church shelter for Christmas dinner, Brian took it over early so they could heat it up, while I stayed home with Cameron who we were afraid was getting dehydrated as he hadn't been eating or drinking much due to the fact that the stomach bug had gone through our house a few days before christmas. Luckily power came back on around 12:00 and we were able to take showers and go to my parents for 2:00. We opened gifts there and had a nice dinner. Cameron finally started drinking something so we didn't have to take him to the ER thank goodness. I did take him to the Dr. the next day to find out that he had a double ear infection.

All in all we had a nice day despite the power outage and Cameron not feeling his best.

Fun in the snow

With all of the recent snow storms Brady couldn't wait to get out and play in the snow!

An early Vigilia

Vigilia is the Polish Christmas eve. We celebrated it early this year because Brian's grandmother is going to be away for Christmas this year. Brady did a great job with learning some of the traditions already! Before we have dinner we each get a wafer that has been blessed and we go around to each other taking pieces off of each others and wishing each other a merry Christmas. Brady did an awsome job participating in this part of the evening! Cameron is still young for it. We also pulled out some old home videos and I got to see what Christmas was like when Brian was a kid. Brian's Grandfather was in the video and it made me think of him. He so would have loved our boys. He would have gotten a kick out of Brady and Cameron. although he didn't speak much english he always made me feel comfortable and loved when I was with him.

Since we got our lights back.....

We got our electricity back last tuesday! We were overjoyed and at the same time overwhelmed with everything we still had left to do. This past friday we had a whopper of a storm that dropped a good 12 inches of snow on us. Saturday night I got the stomach flu, and sunday morning Cameron woke up with it. By monday at 1:00 am Brady had it! so It has been a rough ride around here. we have done countless numbers of laundry and have sanitized just about everything in our house! Brian has been the best husband and Father we could ask for, catering to our every need plus shoveling the driveway, yes shoveling, because our snow blower died. Luckily being the handy man that he is, he was able to fix it today! of course that didn't help seeing as we got another storm on sunday night. and to top it all off I pulled my back once again and had to go to the doctors so I am currently on vicodin and some muscle relaxers. Through everything I have to say Brian and I have done fairly well keeping our cool. We really do make a good team!

Ice Storm 2008

It is now Tuesday night. Last Thursday, we got an ice storm that knocked out power to half the State of New Hampshire. What an adventure we have been on, because if you are "cityfolk", you don't realize what happens when you lose power in the winter....let me explain: Your loss of electricity means a loss of heat and water, since you can't pump water from your well. This means no showers, no dishes, no flushing the toilet, no nothing!!!

Luckily for us, we were able to maintain heat in the house by running non-stop our propane fireplace and all 4 burners on our gas stove. We also burned wood in the fireplace at night to take the chill out of the air. Erica and I stayed up two ngihts in a row to keep the heat going (since you don't want to let it run unattended). We washed our dishes with windex, and we dressed the boys up in 4 layers for bed so they would stay warm. By Sunday we had to throw out all of our food in the fridge as it had spoiled. Lots of neighbors had generators, we did not. Generators were actually hard to come by.....here is how we found one:

I put my name on a list at Home Depot and I got a call Monday night telling me I had a generator with my name on it in Plaistow, if I still wanted it. $800 later, I was the proud owner of one. Although I knew the end was near for this storm, there will be another to take its place, so I consider the generator to be a good investment. Next month I plan to hire an electrician to wire my house so that in the event of another storm, I can simply plug the generator into a box in my garage and it will automatically generate power for my well, furnace, sump pump, frig, and a few outlets around the house. At least then I can rest assured that THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!!!! You can't put a price on that guarentee!

Christmas Spirit!

To me this is what Christmas is all about! The smile on children's faces. I am so fortunate to have 2 wonderful boys and a wonderful husband. Seeing the christmas lights and decorations through my kids eyes this year has made me feel like a kid again. Brady was in absolute Aww when he saw santa, it melted my heart.

So when the hustle and Bustle of the season starts to take over, remember the smiles on the faces of children that you see!

Merry Christmas!

HO HO HO!

My friend Jacki was over with her camera today and got some great pictures of Brady! Thanks Jacki!

New Christmas Portraits