Miss Maelee's Big Owie

I cannot believe it's been a month already since Maelee's surgery.  Between that, photog picking up and fun projects on the house, it's been a busy month!  But I finally have a few moments to catch you all up on the why-fore's concerning the whole thinggy...

About a year ago Maelee had her first UTI {urinary tract infection}, and about 2 months later she had another one.  About 2 months later, another one.  Again a month later.  Again a month after that.  2 weeks later she had yet another one and 3 days after she was off the antibiotic for THAT UTI, another one sprung up in it's place.  Her fevers were getting up to 107.5* which is definitely enough to freak a Mommy and Daddy out!!!  Somewhere around the 3rd UTI we were sent to a specialist, had an ultrasound and finally in the middle of her 7th UTI she had a VERY painful VCUG {not entirely sure what that stands for but basically it involves a catheter, an X-Ray and trying to convince a 3 year old that it's ok to pee on a table so they can get the right X-Ray image.  Yeah, that one was fun!!!}

Anyway, we found out that poor miss Maelee had stage 4 reflux which is seriously no bueno.  Reflux is when the valves on the lower end of your ureters - or the tubes connecting the kidneys to your bladder - don't work right and let the pee go back up toward the kidneys {and your dear little kidneys can't handle even a tiny bit of bacteria... urine is FULL of it!}.  There are 5 stages, 1 being low and 5... you get it.  :O)  So to hear she had stage 4 was scary.  Basically every time she tried to pee, most of her urine went right back into her kidneys, hence the insane UTI's.  Then it would drain back down, making her pee again and start the cycle over.  And over.  Yeeeeah.  Poor girl.  It sucked to say the least my friends.  Luckily, we had a feeling going into that dr visit that she was more than likely going to need surgery so we weren't surprised when the specialist said that was the only option to get her better.

Maelee was so freaked out by that whole appointment that she kept telling us, "I don't ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER want to go to the doctor again!"  Oh, if she only knew what she was in for... we told her that Kiki, her birth mom, was going to come see her in the hospital and she got all excited for that... So we "forgot" to remind her that the hospital was full of doctors and that one in particular was going to, well, you know... cut her open.  Who are we to not let her focus on the positive?  Ha ha {I say that dryly, FYI}.

So the big day came and she was pretty excited for all the nifty things in the hospital.  They gave her a turtle, a coloring book and some crayons and once we were in the prep room she got to play in a power wheels race car.  She thought this place was pretty neat, that is of course until she realized that she wasn't going home anytime soon.  Then the minor freakouts started.  Luckily, hospitals have some lovely drugs to take the edge off.  When that kicked in, she got LOOPY!!  Pulling faces at all the nurses, pretending to take pictures of Clint with a camera that was evidently only as big as her eye... it was pretty funny.  We had our Kindle Fire for her to play on and so after seeing that, the anesthesiologist gave her his smart phone to play a game on while they wheeled her back into the OR.  She didn't even realize we weren't there, which was a relief in a way and a bit sad too.  I was sad at least!! 

Gee whiz did those 3 hours draaaaaaaaag oooooooooon.  We had her ID number and could watch on a screen what her status was, but that did little to ease my nerves.  We sat next to a fish tank in the waiting room - nice of them to give us something aside from soap operas on TV to watch - and there was one fish laying completely on it's side!  It looked a little bizarre and I guess the staff was pretty tired of people telling them their fish was dying cuz there was actually a note on the tank saying that the fish was, in fact, still living.  :O)  Ah, something to smile about.

Within minutes of Maelee's number popping into the post surgery column her doctor came out to let us know that everything had gone perfectly and that we would be able to see her within the hour.  The anesthes... oh never mind, it's too big a word!  The drug doc :O) came out and told us 15 min to an hour.  He quickly came back and said just kidding, she's awake and wants her Mommy and Daddy!!!  {Yay!}  Boy howdy was she CRUSTY!!!  I totally don't blame the poor kid, and since she had so much pain medicine in her body, it amplified the crusties like crazy.  I climbed up in bed with her and just held her and sang our lullaby until she fell asleep in my arms.  I felt a little funny lying in the bed while they wheeled us to her private recovery room in the pediatric ward but my baby needed her mommy so it was all good.  :O)

The next few days were pretty miserable so I'll just hit the most important bits.  Maelee's surgery was, officially, a bilateral ureteral reimplant - which in layman's terms means they went in kinda like a C-Section in her bladder and disconnected those tubes then reattached them correctly and closed her back up.  She emerged from the knife sporting an epidural which at one point settled into her right leg and made it go completely dead {that's a little unnerving when you're an adult, imagine being THREE!!  She rolled over and her leg didn't come with her - she FREAKED OUT!!  Yeah, try explaining that one to a 3 year old!}, it was sad and amusing to hear her shrieks of delight about every 30 min or so after they switched pain meds when a little feeling would come back into her leg, "I can MOVE MY TOES!!!".  LOL It was hard to watch her not be able to support her own weight when she tried to stand - her leg was total dead weight and of no use.  She was SO frustrated that she couldn't walk.  :O(  Unfortunately for the poor girl it also made her itch.  Like.  CRAZY.  Even with the medicine to counter that side effect she was still constantly scratching all over her body.  Aside from giving herself bleeding owies, at one point she actually scratched most of the tape holding the epidural tube in place clean off and the nurses had to come in and put new, super-duper sticky tape on her WHOLE back {why they didn't just remove the epidural and control her pain with oral meds is still a mystery to me} and just imagine how much fun it was to remove that super-duper sticky tape... After taking all the tape and sticky crap off over the next few days, Maelee was terrified of band aids!  "No, Mom!!  No band aid!"  Sad side effect...

The next listed pain in the rear during the whole experience was the poor kid's Foley catheter.  The tube itself didn't seem to bother her a whole lot, but one of the after-effects of her surgery was random bladder spasms.  Evidently it's not a very common thing, so the pediatric unit didn't have the countering medicine on hand to control them and getting it was a process.  Those spasms were SO miserable for her!  She would instantly get the feeling that she needed to pee.  NOW.  And it was so intense that she would suddenly stand up in bed and start sobbing, begging us to let her go to the bathroom - only problem is that she was hooked up to so many different tubes that it was a process to let her go anywhere.  We tried to explain to her that the pee wasn't stuck in her body, we even showed her the catheter tube and let her see the urine going into the bag but it didn't do anything to comfort her during a spasm.  It was awful.

Last "oh brother" was her IV.  It was almost in the crook of her arm so every time she bent it, the hose would kink and set off an alarm.  Geez.  Not cool.  It was just sad to see her so grumpy, she had so much crap being pumped into her that she was nowhere near "herself".  She was a step or two beyond crusty pretty much the entire hospital stay.

BUT there were some fun moments too - promise!  Kiki came as promised and had the best timing.  She and a cousin made it to our recovery room just as we were getting settled.  Kiki read Miss Maelee a story and they fell asleep in her bed together which was so sweet.  They stayed a few hours and we were SO glad she was able to come.  The next day Maelee really wanted a balloon so so badly so her nurse Maria brought one in just for her which totally made her day.  We heard there was some sort of national helium shortage and so her helium filled balloon was pretty special.  :O)  Then Russell and Jonnet brought Madi over to visit for a few hours the night after the surgery and brought her a Twilight Sparkle stuffed animal {those of you with girls probably know exactly who that is.  Madi and Maelee are SO into My Little Pony right now!} and a set of My Little Pony figurines.  We got her a few new books, night gowns, slippers and a Rainbow Dash baby doll {again with the My Little Pony LOL}.  She also was able to go into the courtyard of the pediatric ward and hold a couple bunnies and a chicken the last day we were there.  She was pretty stoked over that little adventure!  They gave us a wagon to pull her around in since she had so many tubes hanging all over the place.

Once we got home and had all the tape residue off and she could move around on her own she perked right up and was a lot more content.  It took about a week for all the steri-strips to fall off her incision site, but once they did she realized she was all better and started not only showing everyone {and by showing, I mean SHOWING!  Shirt up to her chin and bottoms almost to her knees!!} but after a bit she also wanted them to touch her "big owie"!  Funny girl.  We have finally trained her to be a little more modest in her showing off of the scar and after a few weeks life went completely back to normal.  She has to take a daily antibiotic for the first 3 months after the operation and will go back in for a final VCUG in December to make sure all is well.  She has over a 98% chance of a success so I'm pretty confident we'll be finished with this whole craziness by Christmas.  The only real recovery issue she had was going to the bathroom for the first few weeks.  It didn't hurt her, she just had to re-train her bladder to do it's job. Once it healed up enough to be able to stretch and fill up she was good to go.

I gotta tell ya, seeing your baby go through something like this is not fun.  I'm grateful that she has no clue what the concept of milking it is cuz I was all prepared to let her eat gogurts and watch movies all day for as long as she "needed" to, but she is too much like her Daddy to stay down for long.  We were told that as soon as she got on our nerves that meant she was better and we were over the stress of it...  I guess she is feeling GREAT!!!  Ha ha  She actually is doing amazing and is right back to her stinker-pot self.  Man alive I love that little girl and I am SO SO SO thankful I get to be her Mommy.  She is a light in our lives and everything, EVERYTHING is worth it to have her in our family.  She is one incredible little girl, and she is our incredible little daughter.  Love you Maelee.

Nine-Eleven

I don't think we can top last year's post, so here is the link to it.  Hope your 9-11 is full of peace and hope.

Long Overdue

Yes, I know. I am absolutely TERRIBLE at updating this thing. Let me tell you, my personal journal isn't much better. Sad, sad story people. Life is zinging by and I'm missing it because if I don't take the time to write it down, it disappears faster than I can relish it and soon I forget all the small things that make life right now what it is: wonderful.  SO... I'm going to take a second and give a quick update. Someday I will finish all my backtracking posts and get you totally updated on our life over the past 8 months, but that won't happen tonight.  NOTE:  None of the following posted pictures have been edited.  I know you don't care and probably don't notice, but I am absolutely cringing at the thought of posting unedited pictures on here.  C'est la vie!!


We moved into our beautiful home on June 25th and are absolutely in LOVE with it.  Clint took that first week we were moving in off from work so that we could get totally unpacked and settled as soon as possible since this is our forever home and we wanted to live HERE and not out of boxes.  Sorry, the pics are only of about 1/2 the house and unfortunately only one of them are of the outside {kinda, it's our family pic from the 4th of July.  It was taken in the courtyard out front}.  I'm still working on the rest!  It's on my "someday" list LOL

This house has felt like home since we moved in.  We are so excited, even with all the responsibility that has come with it.  We have almost an acre and a half with the house and Sandra {the woman we bought the house from} planted all kinds of yummy stuff.  This fall {ok, every fall from now on} will be a busy one trying to figure out when and how everything needs to be harvested, but it's a great challenge and SO rewarding!  Our garden was very generous, the grapes and figs were fab, apples are just starting to come off and in the next month our pecans, pistachios, walnuts and pomegranates will be ready also.  Crazy busy, bring it on!!  :O)


Next up, we went camping with my family on our beautiful mountain in mid July.  It was such a great weekend - although sorry to my BIL Troy who isn't quite simpatico with heights and had to drive up the cliff-side road with no guardrails... SORRY!!!!  We hiked and found a TON of lady bugs {note the difference between how many bugs are crawling on my girls vs my nephews... city boys!  LOL}.  It was just nice to get to share our mountain with my family.  My grandma had actually camped there as a little girl during the summers and until 2 years ago hadn't been back in almost 70 years!  CRAZINESS!!  Grandma, you don't look that old my dear!

Clint's Grandma GG came down from Oregon in April and stayed through July with Russell and Jonnet.  It was such a treat to have her here, the kiddos LOVE their Grandma GG and she will definitely be missed!

Ah, next comes the 24th of July.  Clint has somehow ended up in charge of our ward's float for the last X many years and this year a few days before he decided that we as a family needed to dress in pioneer garb and walk with the float to hand out all the candy.  Great idea except that we live in 2012 and don't have pioneer garb.  SO, I took a few old sheets and some extra fabric and sewed the girls and I bonnets and aprons.  Well, after working on them for 2 days my sewing machine evidently thought I needed a break cuz it bit me.  The needle went in exactly where the nail leaves the skin at the nail bed, I jerked my finger away from the machine with the needle still in my nail, tearing through the length of the nail all the way to where the nail leaves the skin underneath and turns white.  Yeeeeeeah.  Needless to say I cried like a baby, Clint took me to the doctor and all they did was give me a bandaid and a tetanus shot {which hurt worse than the original injury I came in for!  Hello?!?  Didn't they know I came IN with a needle injury?  I wasn't looking for another one!}.  I was so burnt about the bandaid that I made Clint take me to sonic.  :O)  See, I'm a little baby!

On August 8th, school started.  Madi took her first step as a big first grader {sob!} and Maelee began "Mommy School".  They are both doing great and loving it!  Madi loves her teacher, who is a great fit for us, and she has a lot of friends in her class.  Maelee has already learned to count to 13 {except that she keeps wanting to jump to 6... "1,2,6" "Try again, 1,2,3" "oh, ok!  1,2,3,6"... too funny!  Once she actually GETS to 6 she's perfect!} and most of her colors.  It's going to be a great year for both girlies!

Madi turned 6 in May and is still so sassy!  I mean that as spunky not as a turkey... actually... she's pretty good at both!  :O)  She tested into intermediate swim lessons this year {woot!} and enjoyed carrying Marcus around all summer.  Going back to school has been really good for her, she craves the routine.  She has mellowed out a lot in the last few weeks as far as stinker moments go and her sweet side is really starting to shine.  She's such a great helper and her most recent quirk is when she comforts Marcus, she tells him, "Sssssssh, it's ok."  Except she doesn't leave a space between the "sssh" and the "it".  So, honestly my 6 year old walks around telling my 8 month old "Sssssshit's ok!"!!!  And when he's really fussy, there aren't as many s's!!  Makes me smile.

Maelee is as always... our little coconut!  She turned 3 in June and still keeps us on our toes.  She has the funniest little personality and comes up with the silliest things.  She wants so badly to carry Marcus around and play with him, but typically it ends with him in wide-eyed tears, pleading with me to save him.  Give him another few months sweetie, then he'll be more ready to play!  She loves Mommy School and mimics everything Madi does.  She's also turning into quite the little pesty sister and LOVES to drive Madison crazy - poking, touching, kicking, looking at her... it's all fair game and Maelee eats it up.  Her biggest news is actually a total bummer: she has to have surgery next week.  :O(  She has had 7 UTI's in 10 months, her fever got up to 107.5 twice and it just gets worse with each infection.  We had a VCUG {awful, awful, awful experience for the poor girl} and it showed that she has stage 4 reflux which basically means her tubes which drain urine from the kidneys to the bladder didn't form right and so they don't stop the pee from going back up into the kidneys - which is a big no no.  In the surgery, they'll disconnect the tubes and reattach them properly.  Yuck.  BUT, to have the UTI's a thing of the past will be worth it.  SO not looking forward to recovery but hopefully she'll bounce back quickly!!!!!!

Marcus has grown by leaps and bounds!  We started him on cereal and baby food when we moved in, and now he's eating stage 3 baby food, cheerios and small bites of table food.  He hasn't mastered the pincer grip yet, but is quite proficient at the grab and shove method.  His first little tooth popped through 2 weeks ago and will hopefully be joined in the next week by a friend.  In the last week he has made the transition from crawling backwards to finally crawling forward, and has also discovered how to pull himself up onto his knees AND his feet.  Jeez kid!  I had to move his crib mattress all the down to the lowest setting today and he did NOT like it!  He was so mad at me for taking away his new found ability to look OVER his crib that he refused to go to sleep tonight for about an hour.  Poor kid was exhausted and still protesting!  Marcus has also discovered cause and effect.  When he waves his hand in front of the XBOX it beeps and flashes pretty green lights.  When he waves again it beeps more and the lights turn off - magic.  Or when he puts his hand in front of a night light it lights up.  ACK!  Baby proofing again?!?  :O)  He is the sweetest baby and we are all so smitten with him.  How can we not be?

That's the last 2 months in a nutshell.  A big nutshell.  Like a black walnut shell.  :O)

Relief

We FINALLY sold our house!!!!  Granted, in the real estate world having your house on the market for 3 1/2 months really isn't all that long - BUT - it's an eternity when you have the house you want to buy tauntingly close to being yours and all waiting on an offer that you have no control over.  We are so... Excited!  Nervous!  Scared!  In denial!  AAAAAAAACK!!  Now comes the scary part, turning it all into a reality.

We have contracts on both houses, and closing dates for both.  If all goes well, we will {hopefully} be in our new house by the end of the month!  Insane!!  The couple who is buying our house is {well, I've only actually met the girl and her mom but they were} stinkin' CUTE!  We are SO excited for them to buy our house.  It's been a GREAT starter home for us and we're so glad to be able to pass it on to them.  It's beyond wonderful to know how jazzed they are to call our house their home and to know that it will be loved after we say goodbye to it.  You could see how happy the girl was when she came by for the inspection and that made me so so glad we accepted their offer.  :O)

This house has been a lifesaver for us.  It's affordable, it's cozy, it's comfortable, it's safe.  Moving is definitely exciting, but it's also like going swimming without floaties for the first time.  You KNOW you can do it, but you're still petrified to let go of that safe ledge and take the plunge.  Once you swim without the comfort of those floaties, you can't really go back.  You've grown up and it's a little daunting to imagine yourself in such a large pool, trusting that the lifeguards will keep you safe as long as you do your best to keep on swimming.  {I just re-read that and it's a pretty darn good analogy!!}  LOL  We KNOW this is the right thing for us to do, and are DEFINITELY giddy for it... but now that it's becoming a reality it's just a little scary to realize what a HUGE change it will be.  We're leaving our comfort zone and trusting Heavenly Father to guide us when we let go of that ledge and take that plunge.  Scary is honestly the best word for it.

It's all good.  We're ready.  We're excited!  And I'm sure that once we get over the initial shock of how much our monthly payments are going to be we'll start the jumping up and down :O)

Ready

Not just ready, BEYOND ready.

We are so ready to sell our house.

It's been on the market for 3 months now and we've had 14 walk-thrus, one offer that was SUPER low {and when we countered it, they didn't respond to our counter.  Sigh.}, one almost offer, one couple want it if they can sell their house and another couple that we were really hoping would make us an offer but it's been a month since they walked-thru and so the hope on that one has run it's course.

Don't get me wrong, we're not discouraged.  We're not desperate.  We're just ready to move on.  I don't really even know what the right word is to describe how we're feeling right now, because we know that the right buyer will buy our house and that things will work out how they are supposed to.  We KNOW that so we're... comforted...?  But at the same time it's been 3 months and we're READY.

The biggest frustration for me is that there's nothing we can do.  If we were waiting on something we had to do that would be one thing but we've done all we can think of.  We are in limbo, waiting for that offer that will jump start that amazing chain of events and until it comes in... Aside from taking desperate measures {and like I said, we're not desperate} there really isn't anything else we can do at this point.  I know the buying season is starting, and I know the market has taken a turn and is starting to improve.  But is my house sold yet?  *Sigh*  Nope.

BUT - Like I said, we know Heavenly Father is in charge of this whole shin-dig so we're keeping it positive.  We're super excited about our new house and already have a laundry list of things we're looking forward to doing in the yard and painting and this and that.  It's fun to dream knowing that in a few months those things will be a reality.  It's also been nice to fix this house up a little bit more to get it ready to sell; to see it in a new light as we focus on all the pros for our future buyer...

It really is a great house and we've loved living here for the past 7 years.  BUT... we are READY TO MOVE ON!  Come on, buyer, let's do this!!!!!

I've updated our sales pitch LOL and so for anyone who might be interested, here it is again since our last post isn't on this main page anymore...

The house appraised two years ago for $130,000 and we are asking $126,999.  It sits on over half {.6} an acre with fruit {apricot and the most delicious peaches EVER!} and shade trees, established landscaping in front and a LOT of potential in back.  The back yard is fenced in, and the property continues beyond the back fence {this is where we have the fruit trees.  There is a valve which runs only to the fruit trees.  Each tree has its own water spicket which can be adjusted to control the flow of water to the individual tree.  There are also two additional water spickets already run and in place for future trees.  Behind the fence there is also a brick fire pit} and eventually meets with a grove of mesquite trees.  There is enough land for horses, RV's, a workshop, etc. behind the fence while still leaving the huge back yard {we have a large sandbox for our fort/swing set/playground, partial grass and a shed on a concrete foundation - and there is STILL a TON of yard left}.  We have installed multiple water spickets around the perimeter of the yard and have a fenced off area for our dog.

The house itself is 1,268 square feet with a split and spacious floor plan that makes it feel a LOT bigger than that.  It has 3 nice sized bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms.  The two regular bed rooms have large custom closets with built-in organizers and sliding mirror doors.  The hall bathroom is bright and has cream cabinets with satin nickel hardware, a rain shower head and a curved shower curtain rod - which makes the bathtub/shower nice and spacious without invading the rest of the room.

The master bedroom is large and has a sliding glass door leading out to a small porch and a spacious walk-in closet {again with custom organizers to make the most of the space}.  The added crown molding gives the room a nice finishing touch and the illusion of a higher ceiling.  There is definitely more than enough room for a king size bed set in this bedroom. The master bathroom also has cream cabinets {with lots of storage} and satin nickel hardware including cup pulls on the many drawers.  The counter top is large, giving you lots of room to spread out when both of you are getting ready for the day.  :O)  It also has an oversize shower {which is SO nice!!} with a rain shower head.

The family room has a large window and is quite roomy - we have a couch, chaise-lounge, book case, entertainment center and hope chest in the room and it's still very open and clutter-free.

There are double ceiling fans and an arch leading into the hallway.  The family room is openly connected to the dining nook and kitchen, which gives these rooms a feel of being bigger than they are.  The dining nook has bay windows, allowing the perfect fit for the table and provides a beautiful view of the mountains.  The kitchen is VERY well thought out.  The storage space is maximized with 2 Lazy Suzans and 2 deep corner cabinets above, and beautiful custom cupboards that meet the ceiling.  The gas oven/range still looks brand new and the dishwasher is in great shape.

The laundry room also houses the hot water heater and has the same custom ceiling-high cabinets the kitchen sports.  There is room to store the vacuum, mop, etc. and has a door leading to the 2 car covered carport.  We have had fun painting and improving here and there over the years, and have upgraded the interior doors to 6 paneled ones, installed ceiling fans in every bedroom, 2-inch wood blinds in all the windows, built 3 flower beds and extended the front porch quite a bit and added a sidewalk down the side of the carport and across the front of the house. 

This house still has SO MUCH POTENTIAL!!!  It's set up for an easy addition off the back, or a large back porch and the carport could easily be enclosed to a 2-car garage.  There is room for anything you could want to buy, build or bring to this property.

Beyond the greatness of the house itself, it also boasts a number of other perks:

It’s within a 5-minute walking distance of every local business; including restaurants, the post office, museum, the county utility company, police station, Town Hall, fire department, library, local schools and churches of multiple denominations.

It’s only a 10 to 15-minute drive to the stores and restaurants offered in the neighboring communities.

It is located in a nice, quiet neighborhood and the neighbors are welcoming and friendly.

The house is enough off the beaten path that you get the peace of a cul-de-sac, yet still in the heart of town so you don’t have to sacrifice the convenience of everything being within walking distance.

It offers the feel of a large, expensive home for a fraction of the price. 

It is well insulated and the huge elm tree in the front offers amazing shade which keeps the house cooler longer so you can wait a few extra hours to close the windows and turn on the AC in the spring and summer.  It also has a natural gas heater instead of electric to save money during those cold months.  Over the last 7 years, our combined utility bill has never been over $300.

Lovin' it?  :O)  Spread the word and I'll personally give $100 to whoever brings us a buyer!!  ;O)

Breakdown

So...

I believe that anyone who still follows this blog {I constantly hear "Facebook killed the Blogger star" run through my mind - to the tune of "Video killed the Radio star" LOL}, you may have noticed that I like to post a million pictures of my family and our many adventures together. The problem is that if I post a million, then I TAKE roughly a trillion. It really is a problem. First, they take forever to upload to my computer. Second, it takes hours to sort through them all and pick the ones that make the cut. Third it takes hours to edit them because I'm so darn picky. Fourth, it then takes far too long to run my web resize action on every picture so that it doesn't take all night to upload my precious images. Fifth, I don't like long posts {pshaw you're thinking but it's true} so I try to save them all in a slideshow to minimize my post length for your enjoyment.

Hmmmm...

Yeah, it's a problem.

Good news, I'm learning to streamline my picture-taking-and-narrowing-down process, and am trying to not worry so much about each picture being perfect before being posted.  Whew!  Hours of work zapped!!  Next, I finally broke down.  I have been using Photoshop 7 to edit my pictures...  For those of you who have NO CLUE what that means, Photoshop 7 is 10 years old.  In photo editing, that's ANCIENT!  I have been dragging my feet on upgrading because for the price of the upgrade I could buy a new lens or some other fun toy for my camera {or get it fixed, whoops!} but I finally hit my breaking point.  No, I didn't drop hundreds of dollars and buy the newest version, I actually settled for a used version of CS2 {which is still 7 years old BUT listen to what it can do that I couldn't before}.  I have reasons for going with such an old version and they all make sense in my head I promise :O) but my biggest reason for the upgrade?  Batch Process.

Eh?

I can now run an action {a pre-set order of editing steps} on a group of pictures instead of running the action one at a time on each picture.  I know for all the photo editing gurus out there this is nothing big, and I've known about it for years I just didn't want to upgrade when I was perfectly happy with the software I had... well, maybe not PERFECTLY happy but happy enough.

Where is all this leading?  To my hopeful promise that I should be able to get my millions of pictures ready to upload and posted in MUCH less time now.  Yay!!  See what I do for you, my dear reader?  Always thinking of you {aw!}.  Aaaaaand, you may be wondering what group of pictures did I test this "new" trick on?...

 Marcus rolled over!!!! I was taking pictures of how well he has started to hold his head up, snap snap snap and suddenly he was on his back. Total inspiration yo and SO glad I was able to catch it! Has he done it again? Nope. Was it probably an accident? Yep. Don't matter! My baby is growing up!!!!!!!!

Taytum Wins...

Oh my dear friend, you are too funny!  For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, read Taytum's comment on my last post.  She's a funny kid, made me leak a few tears through my giggles!  No, I didn't give up showering, but I combined a few things to "create" a few extra minutes here and there.

Maelee has been sick the past few days so I have had her snuggled up on my lap today while I poured over close to 700 photos from the past few weeks {No, we haven't been THAT busy.  Yes, I take a lot of pictures.  I have wiggly kids who like to be out of focus.  If I take a ton, I get uno that's what I originally wanted.  That's my story folks}, and I narrowed them all down pretty well... to just over 100.  I would LOVE to post them all on here, but that would take a year and a half to upload and to be honest my rear is completely numb on one side.  I was actually doing jumping jacks between batches of pictures but I guess it didn't help a whole lot!

I have every intention of catching up on here, and mainly because this really is my journal {since I'm usually too exhausted to use the pink one by my bed before I crash} and I don't want to lose these precious memories in my old brain-farty mind.  I'm tellin' ya, 27 is SO OLD!!!  Moving on...  :O)

I want to get started on my catching up by posting this week's exciting news:



We finalized Marcus' adoption!!!  Wednesday morning it was officialized, notarized, and woohooized!  It feels so strange to be so close to being completely finished with adoption.  It's been such a HUGE part of our lives for the past 6 years and to be on the threshold of moving on from it is... indescribable.  Adoption will always be a part of who our family is - we will always have our amazing birth families to help us wrangle these adorable munchkins into {hopefully} all-around-great-kiddos.  So it's not like we're "finished" with adoption in that sense, but to be done with paperwork, waiting, emotional roller coaster, draining our savings account side of it is SO a perk!!

We will be joining our family and friends in the Temple this Saturday, April 21st, at 5 {be there at 4:30} to have him sealed to our family for eternity {you should see the absolutely adorable white suit I found for him!!  I also got him the cutest plaid newsboy cap.  LOVE IT!!!} and blessing him the next day at 1 in our ward, which will be followed by brownies and ice cream at Clint's parent's house.  Everyone is welcome to come and celebrate this wonderful weekend with us!  We look forward to seeing everyone and taking these last steps toward completing our family.  :O)

The Truth

I don't like my computer.

Scratch that.  I'm addicted to my computer.  It sucks me in.  I enjoy that I have a laptop and can set up camp on the kitchen table and not be confined in a room away from my family.  I like that I can unleash my creativity through my blog, photography, Photoshop, Blurb, writing and all that other digital artsy-fartsy stuff.  It gives me an outlet to re-charge my batteries and identify myself when those "I'm a crazy lady and need a break" moments come up.  I find it amusing to wander around Pinterest, catch up on Facebook, read the latest news on Yahoo! or simply kick back to a friend's latest Blog post.  I love the convenience of the world at my fingertips - that even though I live in a small community I have access to anything I {think that I} need. :O)

All that is great.  But it's time consuming and that's the problem.  I don't have enough time.  I constantly feel like I'm running late {by 10 minutes, pretty religiously.  It's almost sad that I'm "that person".  Sigh.  Working on it!!!}, always feel like I've dropped the ball on at least one thing and never feel like the efforts I make are good enough.

Don't get me wrong, this post is NOT to whine.  I'm not having a pity party, honest.  This is leading up to a realization, an epiphany if you will that I have had.  I need to weed out the "good" and only leave the "great".  I need to prioritize.  If I dread getting on my computer, then that's me telling me that I spend too much time on it.  I know that as soon as it turns on, my self control struggles to stay afloat.  It's pathetic, but that's my confession.  I can literally spend hours here, exhausting myself to the very core - emotionally, physically...  I'm like a zombie, a short-tempered walking dead person.

Adopting Marcus has been such a blessing.  I took a vacay from my addiction and was able to see from the distance how bad it was, how little I actually enjoyed it {or at least the consequences of it}, and how little I really needed my daily "fix" of cyberspace.  At first I craved plugging back in, but now...  I literally dread turning this frienemy on.  It's crazy that I'm still plowing through feelings of thinking I'm "so behind" and "such a failure" that I haven't blogged in so long or updated my status.  There is so much more to who I am and who I want to be than my cyberself.  And 2 of those things are watching Super Why while I write this post.  I should be there, huddled under Maelee's purple butterfly blanket with them, waiting to solve the question with my super readers.

By being there, my dear reader, is why I haven't been on top of my posting.  I've been letting go of THIS for THAT.  THAT is where I belong.  THAT is where I want to be and THAT... is the truth.

Cue the Hallelujah Chorus...

No, we haven't sold our house yet {darn it!  Come on guys!  We'll give $100 cash to whoever brings us our buyer...} :O) but in the meantime something pretty darn exciting has happened!  Marcus is officially sleeping through the night!!!  {Here it is, "Hallelujah!!"}  LOL  At TWO MONTHS OLD this darling boy is giving his mama the best gift he can - the hope of a full night's rest.  Unfortunately, his two older sisters have other plans...  In the 2 weeks that Marcus has been sleeping 8-11 hours at night, Madi and Maelee have been bombarding our bed during those same hours!  AAAAAAAGH!  TURKEYS!!  *Sigh*  At least Maelee is totally potty trained {for 2 months now!} so there isn't a soggy pull-up climbing in bed multiple times a night {always look for the positive, you'll live longer!}.  Ha ha!



Two months old.  My baby boy is two months old already!  I'm shocked, partly that it's already been 2 months and partly that it's ONLY been 2 months!  I honestly can't remember NOT having him in our family, NOT knowing him, NOT knowing what he looks like, NOT seeing his ever adorable smile every day... I just can't even fathom that there was life before this sweet miracle.  The girls have adjusted flawlessly to having him around - not ONE moment of jealousy or spite WOOHOO!!



Since it's kinda expected that I record his "stats" for you, I guess I'll throw them out really fast {aaaaand, I want to brag on my boy!!}:

11lbs 6oz
22 1/2 inches long
50% percentile across the board
Drinking 6oz
Smiles and coos when you babble at him
Giggles if you work REALLY hard for it
Loves to munch on his hands
Gets excited when Mom or Dad come in for a kiss {and usually licks Mom in response}
Loves to watch his sisters play
Has greyish, blueish, greenish eyes
Hasn't peed on Mom in about a month {Woohoo!}
Has outgrown about 1/2 of his 0-3 month clothes, but almost drowns in the rest LOL
Had his first haircut {Feb 21st} but still rocks a fauxhawk

Rebecca and her mom Lori came over for a day visit last Tuesday and I'm so glad they did.  The girls were crazy but we had a good day.  Becca actually held Marcus during his haircut {which he wasn't too fond of.  I think the noise of the clippers startled him}, and he totally crashed after - sprawled out over her lap.  Too cute!

Life is good. Busy, but good. We're still hoping to sell our house, so please keep us in mind and send peeps our way. Marcus is fussing so I better skeedaddle! :O) Oh, I love that little boy!!!!!

We are MOVING!!!

Well... as soon as we sell our house that is!  :O)  SO... the point of this post is to brag all about our adorable abode so that word will spread like wildfire and hopefully help us find our buyer!

Let me start with the bragging {but quickly say that we're not leaving town, just buying a different house to call home.  More on that later!}.   Our house appraised a year and a half ago for $130,000 and we are asking $128,000.  It sits on over half an acre with fruit {apple, apricot and the most delicious peaches EVER!} and shade trees, established landscaping in front and a LOT of potential in back.  The back yard is fenced in, and the property continues beyond the back fence {this is where we have the fruit trees and a fire pit} quite a ways and eventually into a grove of mesquite trees.  There is enough land for horses, RV's, a workshop, etc. behind the fence while still leaving the huge back yard {we have a large sandbox for our fort/swing set/playground, partial grass and a shed on a concrete foundation - and there is STILL a TON of yard left}.  We have installed multiple water spickets around the parameter of the yard and have a fenced off area for our dog.

We bought the house {which was built in 2000} the day before our 1st wedding anniversary {7 years ago this June}, and have put a lot of heart and hard work into making it a beautiful home.  It's 1,268 square feet with a split and spacious floor plan that makes it feel a heck of a lot bigger than that.  It has 3 nice sized bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms.  The kids' rooms have large custom closets with built-in organizers and sliding mirror doors.  Their bathroom {or the hall bathroom LOL} is bright and has cream cabinets with satin nickel hardware, a rain shower head and a curved shower curtain rod - which makes the bathtub/shower nice and spacious without invading the rest of the room.

The master bedroom has a sliding glass door leading out to a small porch and a spacious walk-in closet {again with custom organizers to make the most of the space}.  The added crown molding gives the room a nice finishing touch and gives the illusion of a higher ceiling.  The master bathroom also has cream cabinets {with lots of storage} and satin nickel hardware including cup pulls on the many drawers.  The counter top is large, giving you lots of room to spread out when both of you are getting ready for the day.  :O)  It also has an oversize shower {which is SO nice!!} with a rain shower head.

The family room has a large window and is quite roomy - we have a couch, chaise-lounge, book case, entertainment center and hope chest in the room and it's still very open and clutter-free.  There are double ceiling fans and an arch leading into the hallway.  The family room is openly connected to the dining nook and kitchen, which gives these rooms a feel of being bigger than they are.  The dining nook has bay windows, allowing the perfect fit for the table and provides a beautiful view of the mountains.  The kitchen is VERY well thought out.  The storage space is maximized with 2 Lazy Suzan's and 2 deep corner cabinets above, and beautiful custom cupboards that meet the ceiling.  The gas oven/range still looks brand new and the dishwasher is in great shape.

The laundry room also houses the hot water heater and has the same custom ceiling-high cabinets the kitchen sports.  There is room to store the vacuum, mop, etc. and has a door leading to the 2 car covered carport.

I have had fun painting and improving here and there over the years, and have upgraded the interior doors to 6 paneled ones, installed ceiling fans in every bedroom {ok, Clint did those LOL}, 2-inch wood blinds in all the windows and we extended the front porch quite a bit and added a sidewalk down the side of the carport and across the front of the house.  This house still has SO MUCH POTENTIAL!!!  It's set up for an easy addition off the back or a large back porch and the carport could easily be enclosed into a 2-car garage.

As much as we've enjoyed this house, we've known for a few years that this isn't our "forever home".  There's this gorgeous house around the corner and down the street from us that we've been drooling over and dreaming about for YEARS {when we drive past it we always make jokes about "when we live there" or "there's our future home!" or "someday..."}.  Well, last January at Enrichment {or whatever it's called these days} I swallowed my nerves and told the woman who owns it that if she ever decided to sell her home that Clint and I wanted to buy it.  Her response totally shocked me, "Really?  When do you want it?"  Um... Yesterday!  :O)  Turns out her family all live in Utah and she has been debating staying here or moving there for years.  So we talked with her about it all last year and we always felt really really good about it, SUPER excited about it actually {even though until a few weeks ago we had never even seen the inside!  I know, we're total nerds!!}.  When she called us a few weeks back to say that she had made up her mind and was moving we were a jumble of emotions: ecstatic, scared, excited, nervous, thankful, freaking out, hoping it would work out and humbled that we have been given the opportunity to own our dream home so soon.

After walking through it, we knew for sure that we want to buy it so now comes the scary part: making the grown-up decision to sell our home and buy hers.  Things have been so crazy these last few months and so thank heavens for the calming power of prayer to keep us grounded and help us figure out what direction to go with all of this.  At first we wanted to sell ours privately, but after researching online for ideas and tips we decided that we actually were pretty clueless and called the relator who sold us this house in the first place.  :O)  We are officially on the market and almost finished with the last minute projects to get our house ready to sell.  CRAZINESS!!!  Every time I see the for sale sign out front I get this anxiety/excitement attack.  Getting our house ready to sell has made me see it in a whole new way, as a beautiful, fresh home with so much potential {instead of the same old same old we've lived in for almost 7 years}.  I'm so excited to pass this house we've made into a home on to someone new.  I know that someone will love it as much as we have and will make it even more beautiful, and we're ready to do the same with our dream house.

Anyone interested or if you have any questions email me at tippy2by4{at}yahoo{dot}com.  Wish us luck and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help us sell our house!!!  :O)

Backtrack: Preparing for Marcus

Jeez, you'd think that 3 kids took up all my spare time or something eh?  LOL  It's been nagging at me that I haven't posted all the details of our last 7 weeks on here, especially since I have about a million adorable pics of this sweet little man and his many loving fans.  For the lack of having a minute I would apologize but it's honestly just too much fun to love on my kiddos in my spare time than to glue myself to this computer so I suppose the apology will have to fall by the wayside.  :O)

BUT, those sweet children are sleeping and Clint is playing his latest XBOX craze game so I have finally found a moment to at least START this post.  I guess I need to backtrack to November to really record all the details here.  On Friday the 4th, we had a baby shower that Rebecca was able to come to.  I was SO nervous!  She wanted to come and I was totally excited to share it with her, but I was worried that seeing all the baby things would be hard for her.  I prayed profusely to know how to enjoy the shower and share the excitement of it in a way that would be the easiest and happiest for Rebecca.  I think those prayers were answered that night mainly because of my inspired sister, Yvette.  She had the brilliant idea to make a "Pamper Becca Basket" for everyone to contribute to at the shower.  I was SO touched by all the wonderful gifts our family and friends brought for her.  It was so amazing to be able to have a tangible way to show a fragment of our love, support and appreciation for her and I am SO thankful that she was able to take home a piece of that love.  I think my favorite moment from that night {aside from when we gave her the basket} was when Rebecca leaned over and told me, "Tiffany, I'm so sorry."  "For what?"  "I won't be able to give you your shower gift for about 6 weeks!"  Oh Becca, you are too funny girly!  She has the cutest sense of humor, I absolutely LOVE and ADORE this girl!!!  :O)

Things were going great for a few weeks after that, then on Thursday, November 17th, Rebecca's mom called me with the scariest news: Becca was bleeding and having extreme stomach pain.  The poor girl started having contractions and was going into preterm labor.  All day we were on pins and needles waiting for the latest update, wondering if she was ok and wishing we were closer.  I have never done laundry and packed bags for 5 people SO fast!  LOL  I had already begun getting things ready for the baby, but I wasn't completely prepared yet so that day found me freaking out on a number of levels - bringing in everything from the shed, washing and sanitizing it all, checking the car seat, calling family to make sure we had a place to stay just in case, letting Clint's work know he might be gone for a while, figuring out what to do with the girls if we went down that day, double checking with the insurance company, letting our doctor know what was going on, cleaning the house so it wouldn't sit dirty and be gross if we were bringing home a baby early, getting as much done with photography so I wouldn't get too far behind, letting clients know I might have to re-schedule, worrying about the baby being born premature {my sister Tawnya's little boy Jackson was born 5 weeks early and aside from some jaundice was perfectly fine and went home 5 days later.  On the other hand, my friend Jennie's little Eliana was also born 5 weeks early and couldn't come home for a few weeks, then was on oxygen for a few months.}... And while I'm running around crazy, poor Becca is doing her own freaking out because the doctors couldn't figure out what was causing the bleeding, why she was in so much pain or why she was contracting 5 1/2 weeks early.  When they checked her, she was 1cm dilated and 50% effaced.  She spent most of the day in the OB, but since they couldn't find what was wrong and the baby was doing fine, they gave her TWO shots to stop the contractions and sent her over to the ER for a few hours for some tests over there.  The bleeding stopped, and after sitting on a hard chair for a few hours {as opposed to the soft bed in the OB} she was released and sent home to take it easy.  The contractions continued for at least a week pretty consistently, but eventually died down for the most part.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving {the 26th} we had a baby shower here and Becca was again able to come.  We were pretty worried that her doctor would nix the 3 hour drive for her, but luckily she was a trooper and made the trip.  I was SO glad she and her family came!  We were again spoiled by family and friends and instead of having a basket for Becca we all chipped in and bought her a BEAUTIFUL custom quilt that was absolutely perfect for her.  After the shower we headed to the ever yummy local Chinese restaurant for their lunch buffet.  It was awesome to get to spend relaxed time with them and let our hair down.  It was too funny, Becca's step-Dad was antsy to get home to watch a football game from their home state {comparable to AZ's ASU vs UofA}, so after stuffing ourselves we invited them to chill at Clint's parents and watch the game.  It was fun to watch the boys perk up when their team showed up on the TV {and it gave us a chance to prolong our time with Becca}.  :O)  I gave her a back rub {which I loved since it made me feel useful instead of just a bystander ya know?} and exchanged story after story after story.  It was fabulous!  We didn't have that chance to get to know Kiki very well before Maelee was born so this was a nice change {even though waiting 3 months was a sanity tester vs waiting a week LOL}.

Next came the waiting game that seriously drives you nuts.  If you've had a kid, you know what I'm talking about!  Everyday of that last month is so full of anticipation, "Will he come today?"  "It's GOTTA be today!"  "Ok, how about TODAY?" and so when you go to bed every night, you hope you have everything ready for just in case he decides to pull a fast one and come when the stars are out.  I was glad for the extra time since I had waaaaay too much on my plate between finishing up photography, getting ready for Christmas, putting the finishing touches on Marcus' room, doing all the last minute things to be totally ready for his grand entrance, making sure the girls had enough attention to make up for the lack thereof after the baby came, getting everything in order for the week we would be gone with baby stuff and Christmas...  I honestly didn't get to sleep before 11 {usually later} for pretty much that entire month.  Not so smart there, chica!!

In December I decided it was time to buckle down and choose a name for this boy. I had made lists of names that I liked and Clint had vetoed pretty much everything.  I had looked online, in books, in movies, around town, racked my brain and finally turned to my ancestors for inspiration.  Know what I found?  Between my mom and dad's lines, I have 8 ancestors with the first name of "Speedy".  Yeah, like as in "Speedy Gonzales"!!!  I died laughing when I read my final tally on that one; Clint wasn't amused when I suggested it must be fate.  LOL  Rebecca and her mom had mentioned at our shower here that they thought we should name him an "M" name since we have Madi and Maelee, so when I looked specifically for an "M" name, I kept coming back to Marcus.  Then I looked back at all the lists Clint had vetoed and realized that on EVERY SINGLE LIST I had made, Marcus was on it.  I seriously hadn't noticed that I had come back to it so often.  When I told Clint about Becca and mom's "M" name suggestion the first name he said was... you guessed it!  Marcus!!  So, at that point I did my final test {and you may think I'm TOTALLY nuts, but this is me being honest}, I imagined how it would sound being announced during a football game!  Ha ha, I know, right?  Totally silly, but it sounded good in my head, met all our criteria for a name {not feminine, not too macho, not too boyish, not too manly, not too old fashioned, not too out there and not too common} and sounded good with our choice of a middle name {Tyrel is after Clint's younger brother Jason Tyrel who was struck and killed by lightening 5 1/2 years ago}.  I made the executive decision and breathed a sigh of relief.  :O)

Poor Rebecca had no change in dilation from mid-November until they induced her, even though she tried to jump start the contractions on her own {her mom took her to the mall and had her walk around for a few hours... nada}.  She wasn't actually due until December 26th, but her doctor {thankfully} was ok with inducing her a week early so that we would for sure have everything finished by Christmas.  So, on December 17th, Clint and I had our last hoo-rah before baby: we headed out to our friend's ranch and had the Christmas party to top all Christmas parties.  It was a BLAST!!  We started with an elegant meal, followed by minute-to-win-it style games and ended the night with a fun twist on your classic White Elephant.  Instead of your usual 1 big present per person, everyone brought 3 smaller ones.  The same rules applied: each present could be stolen twice, and if your present was kiped you got to yank someone else's.  There were times when people had all 3 of their gifts taken, and then had to wait forever to be able to steal or open new ones because so many people ahead of them had had theirs stolen too!  It was so fun!!  I tried to upload my videos from that night with no luck.  :O(  I will keep trying!!

The next morning we loaded up our bags, the girls' bags, Marcus' bag, all our Christmas presents and everything else we would need for the next week.  We dropped the girls off at Clint's parents' and headed out just as Rebecca was getting started on her admission paperwork in the hospital.

I know you are simply dying to hear more, my dear reader, but I would rather post this much now than make you wait another 2 weeks or so for me to have time to finish the next chapter in this story.  :O)  If you read all that, GO YOU!!!  Now I'm off to bed cuz my sweet Marcus will be up before I'm ready for him to be and I need all the shut-eye I can manage before then!  Night!!

Marcus has survived a whole month!!!

And I can't believe it!!  Not that I didn't think he would survive {although Maelee did her best to squish him on occasion... all in love of course!!  She is just still learning how to be soft by OUR definitions}, I just don't know where the time has gone. 



The last 30 {give or take, I'm too lazy to count} days have been... wonderful, chaotic, a little hectic and stressful, fun, hilarious, precious, tiring and blissful all in one.  Going from 2 to 3 was a bit more challenging than going from 1 to 2 {which I wasn't expecting as much}, but I'm sure there were a lot of things that played in to that: for instance, we adopted Maelee in the summer so no one was in school which made things a LOT easier.  Madi was 3 {Maelee is only 2 1/2} when we adopted the first time around and TRUST ME, I'm learning that those 6 months make a BIG difference!  :O)  Plus, with Madi being the oldest, she has a different personality than Maelee - Madison is much more serious and careful while Maelee... well, let's just say she wants Marcus to be big enough to play more than she wants to carefully hold him.  LOL

The last couple of weeks have found us finally getting into a routine and with Marcus sleeping anywhere from 5 to 6 1/2 hour stretches at night {ah, sweet sleep!}, we're also finally feeling like a happy family and not a crew of zombies.  :O)  I tell you what, having a boy is already SO different from the girls!!  And not just diaper changes {although I never had to worry as much about being peed on... it's ok though, the other night his aim was off and he peed all over his own head!  I guess that makes everyone even now!}, I am LOVING dressing this little guy!!  My grandma commented the other day that she just doesn't understand all these babies being dressed like little men, that she still thinks all babies should be dressed in gowns with strings on the bottom.  :O)  Not me, I LOVE all his little man clothes!  He is one hip boy!  LOL  He is almost out of all his newborn clothes, and is boasting size 1 diapers.  We STILL hear "Look at all that hair!" when people see him for the first time {which cracks me up, why THAT EXACT phrasing?  Seriously?!?  It's almost a little spooky!}, and I have to admit that I love giving him faux-hawks.  :O)



Madi loves to feed her baby brother.  She's burped him a few times and giggles every time he lets one out.  When he starts squirming with a bubble, she tells me that he's having "traumas" and I need to come help him quick.  Ha ha  She tells me everyday that she loves Marcus more than anyone else in the family {and sometimes will correct herself and add that she loves me AND Marcus more than anyone else.  I like that correction!}.  She is very protective of her little brother, ESPECIALLY around Maelee {thank heavens for that!} and said that she cried a little bit at school her first few days back because she missed him so much. 

Maelee loves to love on her baby brother.  :O)  She is getting better about not suffocating him with her affections {in the literal sense} and wants so bad to be big enough to take care of him.  If he starts fussing she is the first one to let us know that "beebee Mah-kiss" is awake and then tries to climb into the crib with him.  She loves to hold him, kiss him, rock him and often tells us {with a grin} that he licks her when she puts her face close to his.  I'm excited to watch them figure out how to play with each other as he grows and becomes more interactive.  My heart swells when I see my adopted babies snuggling and realize that they are the miracles that we couldn't give ourselves.  I'm SO thankful EVERYDAY for these beautiful, amazing children and the wonderful gifts they are for our family.  We are SO blessed!!!

Marcus is {I'm sure} still trying to figure out what is up with all the crazies who kiss him constantly.  :O)  It's fun to see everyone's tender side come out when he's around.  He is a super smiley baby, but is really trying to learn how to smile when HE wants to.  He's managed it a few times, but for the most part his smiles are in his eyes - you can tell that he's happy to see you because his whole face lights up and his eyes sparkle.  It's one of those things that makes me all warm inside.  :O)

Now here comes the part where I promise that I will post the hospital story, AND his newborn photos, AND more pics of him with the girls, AND Christmas, AND, AND... yeah, I know.  I promise!  :O)