Happy Halloween

I know it isn't Halloween until tomorrow, but if you live in where I live Halloween is always celebrated the night before. So tonight was our trick or treating.

  Yesterday our church did a trunk or treat and Chris and I volunteered to decorate a trunk. We went to the Dollar store and bought up some Halloween stuff. I think our trunk turned out pretty cool. It was not the coolest one there but it did the trick. Alyssa loved getting candy. She had started practicing how to say "trick or treat" early Saturday morning. By the time we left she was repeating it non-stop both Chris and I thought that when it actually came time for her to say it she wouldn't, but once again she proved us wrong. She walked around got all kinds of candy then went to hang out in the nursery.
    We kept Colin with us since he isn't a big fan of the nursery. He loved playing in the grass and lots of people enjoyed watching him play in the grass, yelling things about free range cows and letting the cow graze.
     Last night after we put Colin to bed we let Alyssa stay up late and help us carve pumpkins. She knew this was something special. She asked daddy to make a castle for her Ariel pumpkin she had painted. Then she asked me to make a sad face pumpkin. So we honored her wishes and came up with two pretty cool pumpkins if I do say so myself.
    Tonight we went out to dinner with the in-laws, then all came back to the house. We got the fire pit going. I took Alyssa and Colin to a few houses to show off and get some candy. As we would leave each house, Alyssa would say "Lets go get more candy!". We then came back to the house and she helped pass out candy. She gave the princesses and other costumes she liked more candy than the other ones.
    Colin could have cared less but everyone thought he was cute.

 Now everyone is tucked in bed, the fire pit is out and we put a close on Halloween even though Halloween isn't even started. We have decided that tomorrow we will turn on the porch light until our candy is gone, but our kids will not dress up. We will spend the night as a family and enjoy a night without daycare kids.

11 Months

  Dear Colin,
     You are now 11 months old! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. It seems like just a few days ago I couldn't wait for you to be born.
    You weigh 24 lbs and some ounces. Every time we take you to the doctor it is different. But really you haven't  gained any weight for the past 2 months or so. You wear size 18 months clothes and last month they were a little long on you, this month they fit nicer. So I know that you are getting longer but I don't know how much.
    You still don't have a single tooth in your mouth. You can't even feel any of your teeth trying to pop through, but that doesn't stop you! You eat everything your sister eats. You eat chicken, fish, beef, and anything else that you can get your hands on. Your favorite is probably pasta, but it is hard to tell because you are excited about anything we give you.
      Your personality is coming out more and more each day. You are a happy baby most of the time, but if we tell you no you get very upset. You will throw yourself to a sitting position, throw your arms all over the place and scream. You love to give high fives and wave bye-bye to people.
     You pull up on everything and have started to climb on to everything as well. Your favorite thing to climb on is the swing outside. You will climb in it, stand up and swing it. You think this is hilarious, mommy thinks it is terrifying.
    Last Wednesday you had surgery to put tubes in your ears. The surgery went fast and you seem to be feeling better already.
    You still sleep about 12 hours at night, once we put you down you RARELY wake up. You take a nap each day ranging from one and a half hours to three hours.
    You crawl really fast around the house and will walk holding on to toys. Even if the toy is not supposed to move across the floor you are good at moving it. You will not walk holding anyone's hand though, so I think independent walking is still a little ways off.
     I know I say it every month but you and your sister love each other so much. It is so much fun to watch the two of you interact. Just this morning you were tickling each other's bellies. Your sister will also make sure you always have food and stuff to do in the car.
    You love to copy the noises we make and we will spend hours making noises at you, just to hear you make them back. You have finally started to say "mama".
     Colin while I look forward to watching you grow I am sad to see this baby stage end. Overall you have been a really good baby. This past week I started getting things ready for your birthday. I really can't believe that you are almost 1!
   I love you big boy and can't wait to watch you celebrate your first Halloween and Thanksgiving and truly see a Christmas.

Love,

 Mommy

Colin's Surgery

Yesterday Colin had his surgery to have ear tubes put in. I was so nervous going into it. His surgery was scheduled for 8:50 so we had to be at the surgery center at 7:50.
  Alyssa spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Knight so that she didn't have to get up with us that morning.
I was up at 5 because I was too nervous to sleep. We woke Colin up about 2 minutes before we walked out the door. He was up just long enough to get his diaper changed and then we put him in the car.
   They took us back right at 7:50. Colin was very happy and loved standing and shaking the sides of the crib. He was also enjoying playing peek-a-boo with his blanket.
    At 8:30 they brought in some medicine to make him relaxed and some Tylenol. Once they gave that to him he just laid there doing everything really slowly. At 8:50 exactly they came in and carried him down to the OR. I gave him a kiss and fought back tears.
   Then the longest part the wait. At 9:20 they came in and said the surgery went well and he was going to be waking up soon and as soon as he drank something they would bring him back to us.  I don't know what time he came back because I grabbed him so fast and didn't let go.
   I do know he drank a bottle and peed right away so when they came in to check his vitals and they were good they let us go home. We walked out of the surgery center at 9:55.
   The rest of the day he was good. He had times were he was really fussy and he went to bed early but over all it was a good day for him.
   The doctor said that he had so much fluid behind his right ear that his eardrum was collapsed in. This means he wasn't able to place the tube like he wanted to, so it is more likely to fall out faster. He also had fluid behind his left ear but that one wasn't as bad.
   This morning he got up early but seems to be his normal self so hopefully from here he can start to feel better.

Out of Town

Tomorrow I am going out of town. I am going by myself. I am SOOOOO excited. I have never been away from  my kids for this long. I will leave tomorrow at 9:30 and won't be back until Sunday afternoon. I have spent up to four nights away from Alyssa but if I was gone that long it was because Colin was in the hospital and she came to see me everyday. I was away from her for 72 hours when my Grandpa died but that was the longest.
  The longest I have been away from Colin is 12 hours.
I need this break. I need some time to be me and not mommy. I love being home with my kids all day but I am more than ready for a small break.  I know that by Sunday afternoon I will be ready to see my kids.
  It also helps knowing that my kids will be home in good hands of Jenni and their Daddy. Jenni will have them all day Friday and then Daddy will take over Friday night and the rest of the weekend.
   I am so lucky to have a husband so capable of taking good care of our children.
I will enjoy my weekend of drinking and shopping and come back a re-charged happy mommy!

Dear Chris

I'm a blogging manic tonight! But I have a lot to say and the kids are in bed and my feet are up so for once I actually have time.
In church for the last 4 weeks the sermon has been about "Living like you were Dying". I have listened closely to these messages and taken it very much to heart. I feel like I do a lot of the things the pastor was encouraging us to do maybe I should put a little more effort into trying harder.
 Today's sermon was about loving deeper. He encouraged us to tell those around us that we love them. As he was preaching I thought to myself "hmm I tell Chris, Alyssa, Colin and my parents I love them on a daily basis." This should be easy.
As I thought about it more I knew what I needed to do. I love you is said and I know my kids and my husband know that I love them, but I need to go deeper. So here it goes in public form so that the world can see:

Dear Chris,
   I want to take time from my busy life to say "Thank you". Without you I would not be the person I am today. You have supported me in my darkest of times and in the best of times.
   I want to thank you for working so hard at your job so that I can stay home with the kids. I know that at times it is very hard for you and that you work very hard to support our family.
   I want to thank you for coming home from your job every night and jumping right in with helping with the kids. I think the kids look forward to you coming home as much as I do. They look forward to it because you are such a great dad.
  Thank you for being that amazing dad. Both of our kids look up to you. You are their hero. You are also my hero. When I'm down you know how to lift me up, you are my best friend.
  There are so many more things that you do that I could thank you for but really when it comes down to it all thank you just doesn't even seem enough. I love you and I love the life that you have provided for the kids and me. So for the next week (hopefully longer). I'm going to put forth more of an effort to slow down and put more effort into showing my love instead of just rushing through the words.

Love,
Shannon (your wife of 7 years who loves you more today than on the day she married you)

Similarities

I have a daughter and a son. They are 21 months apart. They are so different, yet so much the same. What is scary is some of the things they are similar in.
Alyssa was one week shy of her 11 month birthday when she got tubes. Colin will be 3 days shy of his 11 month birthday when he gets them. She has breathing issues starting at 6 months. He had breathing issues starting at 4 months.
  She stopped all baby food at about 10 months and so did he.
Their personalities are different. Alyssa is my out going one she will only watch from the sidelines for a few minutes before she is ready to jump in and be with the older kids. Colin would rather just watch from the side lines (though that might change).
 Colin is my mommies boy. He wants to know where I am at, at all times and does not want me out of his sight for very long at all. Though he will accept Daddy as a replacement if I'm not available.
   Alyssa is my little mommy. She loves to help with Colin and loves playing with him even more. Tonight she saw him fussing because he wanted some of my food. So she took it upon herself to go over and feed him some of hers.
   It will be interesting to see as time progresses how their personalities and illnesses stay similar and how they change.

Grant's Farm Halloween

On Friday night we took the kids to Grant's Farm Halloween night. It was a perfect night to go because it was the first night of the season, it was game 5 of the cardinals play offs(meaning less crowds) and the weather was perfect.
   For this you go at night and they have bats and snakes in trees(using Christmas lights), they have camp fires and everyone is dressed up. We had told Alyssa that we were going on Thursday and all day Friday she told everyone she was going to go see "Becca and Alex and dress up like tinkerbell". She was so excited that she kept asking if it was time to go. Finally it was time and we got her in the costume and met up with Stacy, Becca, Danette, Alex and Grandma and Grandpa.

  Once at Grant's Farm she got to ride the tram(which she calls a train) into the park. She wasn't so sure and Colin who had been asleep the whole was there was very shocked. After getting off the tram we went and watched some jugulars and acrobats. Alyssa then rode the carousel (or horses as she calls them).
   We then went to the hospitality center where there was a DJ playing. Alyssa enjoyed dancing to the music and Colin enjoyed being hit on by all the women that thought his cow costume was adorable.
   We then got in the car and the kids were both asleep before we hit the freeway. I think they both had a great night.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we took the kids to the pumpkin patch. It was 80 degrees and sunny. It did not seem like weather to pick pumpkins but with two little kids it seemed like a perfect day to do it.
  Of course Alyssa picked yesterday not to take a nap so there were a few melt downs along the way but I guess that is to be expected.
   We wanted some pictures at the pumpkin patch and we got pictures but we did not get any great pictures. The kids were not looking the correct way or they though the hay was more interesting. But we did walk away with 4 pumpkins. Two will be painted and the other two will be carved.

   Alyssa really enjoyed the tractor ride out the the field to pick the pumpkins and Colin thought playing in the grass was a lot of fun. They both really enjoyed the apple cider.
   So over all it was a good day.

Scared

On Wednesday morning Colin woke up not feeling good. He was up for an hour then went back to bed. I woke him up so we could take the kids to the park. On the way home from the park Jenni said she thought Colin's lips looked purple.

We came home ate lunch and I put him back down for a nap. A little over two hours later he was still sleeping so I went to check on him. He was cold to the touch and his lips were purple. I picked him up and ran downstairs. Jenni started a breathing treatment with him while I called the doctor.  The doctor called back quickly and told me to take him to the ER in St. Louis.
   I took him to the hospital but since I had given him a breathing treatment his oxygen pulse was 98-100% so they were not concerned about him. After 2 and a half hour wait I went to check on when we would get a room. They said at least 7 more rooms had to be cleared so I left.
   The next day I called his doctor and they said they didn't even want to see him unless he got worse. Well by 2:30 he was worse so I took him to the doctor. He diagnosed him with an ear infection and said that since his oxygen stats were 95-100% that he wasn't worried about his breathing and sent us home.

   So now I'm waiting for Colin to wake up this morning to see how he is. I'm hoping that all the breathing treatments and ear meds will make him feel better.

Colin has to have surgery

My poor little boy has to have surgery at the end of this month to put tubes in his ears. I know that he will be a much happier little boy once it is done. He has constant fluid behind his ear that at times seems to be putting a lot of pressure on his ear drums and causing a lot of pain. On top of that he is having a lot of ear infections. We have done everything we can to help, elevating his bed, not letting people smoke around him, not giving him a bottle laying down, and even limiting his pacifier use. So now it is on to tubes.
   I have been through this twice with Alyssa and it was nerve racking each time, but for hers I only had about a week to think about it before it happened. This time I have almost a month. It also doesn't help that my pastor's wife went in for an "easy" procedure last week and ended up being airlifted to another hospital and had sever complications. (She is okay and home now Thank God).
   I do think my fears are a little less because we are doing this surgery at a very well known hospital in St. Louis and I know a few babies that have been taken care of there. HOWEVER I'm still scared out of my mind. There was once today where I really thought about picking up the phone and calling the doctor and canceling it.
   So since I know it is what is best, I'm going to spend the next 22 days praying that God's hands will be on my son and the doctors taking care of him and put it in his hands. (Though that really won't be easy for me.)