A few firsts

The first of the firsts is Belle's 18 month stats:

Weight 17lbs 4 oz---20% One more pound, yeah!

Length 28 1/4 in---25%

She is still a petite little thing.

Belle has really taken off the last couple months. She is doing so many new things. It is so fun to see her grow and learn because every little thing is such a big milestone for her. It is very exciting and we find ourselves constantly oohing and awing over her.

She fell down the stairs for the first time, ate dog food, and got her first finger tip snipped while getting her fingernails clipped. I know....horrible mom. Because she ate the dog food I found out she got her first two teeth which were molars. Last week her front bottom tooth decided to make an appearance. Because of the fall we now have a lovely gate (did I mention I hate the look of gates) that traps babies, dogs, and adults upstairs. As for her finger it is now healed but it was a bad one that bled forever. I admit I shed a few tears over that one.

Other firsts are: having her first piece of cheesecake which she thought was heaven, she is now pulling up to EVERYTHING, and she is just starting to crawl on her hands and knees. She still relies on the good ol' army crawl since she can go much faster that way. Her hair is getting so long and I don't have it in me to cut it. When it's wet it is down to the middle of her back. I keep telling myself that when she is two she can have a big girl haircut but for now she's still my baby. She/we have started a co-op class at Kindering (the center where she gets all her therapies) and she absolutely loves it. The first time was interesting which is a post in itself but she was such a big girl and loved the group activities. It made me realize how mature she really is.

This is how I found her when she woke up from her nap one day. It was so cute, I love firsts.

And just a couple more because she's just so cute.

Veterans day and Jonah

Every year the elementary school honors the veterans. Kiegan's grade got to be the choir this year. I love to see the boys sing and perform. Kiegan did a great job. At the end they announce the names of the veterans and where and when they served and then they all go up and stand in the front. A teacher and playground helper both served. It was so neat when they announced their names because all the kids went wild. I have to admit I got a bit teary. I am so thankful for all the many men and woman who served and currently serve our country so that we can be THE LAND OF THE FREE. Not only them but also their families who sacrifice and share them with us so that they can serve. I am also grateful that our kids are learning to respect the past and the many sacrifices others have made for us.

Jonah had his birthday last week!!!! YEAH!!! He was spoiled by many loved ones and friends. He said it was his best birthday yet. Thank you to all of you who sent your love to him. He decided this year he wanted cheesecake and cookies and cream pie. I thought it was a brilliant idea since I don't like cake much.

HALLELUJAH!!!! I am finally caught up..... I can breathe again now!

Halloween

The kids always love Halloween. This year I was to exhausted but they made the most of it and had fun anyway. Tate was the cutest Harry Potter I've ever seen. Jonah was one very smart doctor and Kiegan was a clever hobo. They carved pumpkins and went trick-or-treating with their friends.

October

October was a crazy month. It started off with my sister Wendi coming for a visit. It was so nice. We didn't really do much but I think that was the best part. It was great just to hang out and be together. It was also so great because all the boys were in school and it was just us. No one to have to share her with. We can't get together without doing some sort of project. So we made an adorable little book for our beautiful niece Jessie. It turned out so so cute. She made chocolate eyeballs with the boys, which the boys thought was fabulous. And of course we ate really good food.

Her visit was way to short. I always wish for more time with her. It was so nice to just relax and be together. I felt so much better after she left.
The following week my mom also made a quick visit. Belle had her adenoids out, ear tubes in, and tear duct work. Mom was such a help. It was so nice not to have to worry about the boys when we had to be at the hospital at 6:00 in the morning. She took care of everything including me. It felt so nice to have my momma take care of me too. I didn't want her to go home and neither did the kids. We all really enjoyed her.

Belle's surgery went great for the most part. Her eye surgery part was only suppose to take 15 min. but ended up taking an hour. Dr H. was able to probe her left lower duct but not the upper which meant she couldn't put a stint in that eye. But her right eye went great stint and all. Her ENT surgeon initially thought that they would keep her overnight just to be safe. We were pleasantly surprised when they said she was doing so great afterwards and sent us home. Tony and I have a joke that whenever something bad is going to happen with the kids he isn't ever around. Well, when they were releasing Belle Tony left the room to go to the pharmacy. The nurse had just taken her IV out of her foot and told me to get her dressed and then we could go. I started to get her situated and all of the sudden I felt warm wet all over. I looked down and blood was POURING (seriously) out of her foot. I ran out in the hall to get the nurse and the chaos began. The nurse and I were hustling so much trying to get it to stop bleeding and to clean the mess up all over the floor, B, & I that it scared B. She started crying which made her nose start to bleed. So now we had a bleeding foot and a bleeding nose. It was scary for a minute. Of course the second we got everything under control and cleaned up Tony waltzed in with no idea of all the drama that he missed. The boys were so excited to see her when they got home. It was so sweet and tender to see how worried they were about her and just how much they love her. It bothered them a bit how banged up she looked. That night at about 7:00 I noticed something sticking up out of her tear duct and over the next two hours it got bigger. I called her eye Dr. and at 9:00 we had to drag her in to get her stint out. It was creepy. Dr. H just took some tweezers and pulled it out a little bit which made a big loop sticking out of her eye, snipped it and then just pulled it out. It didn't bother Belle at all but I was sure glad my mom was with me. We were disappointed that the stint didn't take but so glad that she was able to probe both her eyes. The next couple of days Belle looked like someone had beat her up with a constant bloody drip from her nose and two black eyes. It was so sad. It is very interesting to me that people stare and say the things they do. I'm sure they wondered what kind of mom I was to let my sweet little baby with downs get so banged up. People are weird. Belle is doing great and is a new woman now. (a different post on that)
This is Belle when we first got home. If you look closely at her right eye you can see the little red end of her stint starting to poke out.
And here she is a couple days later. Pretty banged up.
It was so nice to have Wendi here the week before to keep my mind off of the surgery and then to have my mom here to take care of all of us during the surgery. I am so lucky to have so many wonderful woman in my life.

September

All the boys were so excited for the first day of school......all except Kiegan. He got the stomach flu and missed the whole first week of school. It went through all of us even baby Belle. It was so horrible. We have never ALL been that sick before. I can't even begin to describe how miserable it was for everyone. (nor do you want me to) I have never cleaned up that much "sick" in my life and I hope to never have to do it again. Just when I thought we were all done someone I won't name woke me up in the middle of the night to inform me he had thrown-up again but this time he just leaned over the edge of the top bunk and let loose. I cried a little bit as a dragged myself out of bed and cleaned up the vomit that had splattered everywhere including on the blanket of the other brother on the bottom bunk. This same person has issues making it in the toilet and the night he came down with it he proceeded to vomit all over the closed toilet letting it splatter all over the floor, toilet, and up the wall a good 3 ft. So when the bunk bed incident happened I wanted to sell this child to the highest bidder. I hate cleaning up sick. UGGH!!! School is going good and the boys are all loving it. Their teachers are so great. It's going to be a great year!

I can't leave this picture out since it's so stinking cute. Belle loves to watch the boys play their games.

Kathy and Allan

I have the best in-laws ever. I truly mean that, I'm not just saying it. We were so lucky to have them come and visit at the end of August. It was such a nice week. We hung out, gabbed, watched movies, and played a lot of games. One of the boys' favorites was when we played Pictionary. We went to the Ballard Locks and saw the salmon and the boats. We dreamt about someday owning a great boat and traveling around. Wouldn't that be fun? It was very relaxing and the kids loved the attention from Grandma and Grandpa. (Tony and I loved it to) We wish that we lived closer or got to see them more often. Maybe someday. It was such a great week with them. Here are a few pics:

I love this picture of all the GUYS!!!!!

Today is the Day.....

Today is the Day that I start to play catch up with this silly blog. There are so many things happening that I've wanted to talk about but of course won't allow myself because I want to be caught up first. I apologize for being such a slacker, there has been good reason.

Ok, so way back in August my brother Shawn and his family came to visit us. It was a blast! It was their first BIG vacation so we wanted to make it really great for them. The boys all counted down the days until they came. It was so fun to watch all the boys play and get along so well. I think they really bonded and made some good memories.
We all went to the Aquarium which is always a hit. I don't have any good pictures of that because my battery died after 2 shots. Bummer! But it was fun. I love when guests are in town, it gives us a really good excuse to eat at Ivar's. Another day we all went to Great Wolf. As many times as we have been there, it still doesn't get old. We love that place and it is so much more fun when you go with another family. After watching Josh be so brave Tate decided he wanted to go on the big slides and loved them. He just needed a little push by someone his own size. We even got Tony to go on the Howlin' Tornado again....surprise surprise....he even liked it. The kids would beg to take turns going down the slides with both Tony and Shawn. They made the rides faster and crazier. It was a blast! We all were completely spent by the time we got home. One day all the boys went outside and got the ride on toys and raced down the hill. They looked like they were having so much fun, totally something I would have done as a kid. They got the hula hoops out and it was hilarious watching them boogie. Mason impressed me the most with how he could do it around his neck. Yes people I even tried it. YIKES!!!
The Steel kids hadn't ever been to the actual ocean before. So we caught a ferry and headed over to Whidbey Island. We drove up to the Lighthouse and was pleasantly surprised to find
Ft. Casey. We spent some time at the beach imagining that we could see straight out into the ocean. The best part of the whole day was Ft. Casey though. The kids had so much fun running like crazy through the whole place. It was a blast and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. We were so sad to see the end of their trip. It is so hard to say goodbye and especially after such a great time. I do have to admit I was relieved when Belle stayed with us though. She sure loves her Uncle Shawn and Aunt Tammy. There were many no's to me and begging for them. It was really great to have the Steel's here and hope they come again. We love them and miss them always!

Dear Blog

Dear Blog,
I am so sorry that I have been ignoring you. I admit that I am not a very good friend. When life gets busy I don't stop to visit you. If you feel totally neglected I understand. It's not that I don't think about you or wonder what is going on with you, I just don't have time for you. In all truth the idea of catching you up on all that has happened since my last post is very overwhelming. So much has happened. And because of that I go on ignoring you. Please understand. I will visit you and check up on you when I have the time.....I promise. But for now enjoy the silence and break from me. I really do miss you!
Your friend,
SARAH

4th of July

4th of July was great! We celebrated at the Birch's with Mom and Lyle. The kids played on the slip and slide that Grandma Nancy brought. Then Grandpa Lyle helped them fill up the water balloons and launch them. We had a BBQ and celebrated Tate's birthday. That night we did sparklers and then watched the fireworks from Wendi's backyard. It was a great day spent with family and the perfect ending to our trip.

It's always so hard to say goodbye. I don't like living so far away. If I had it my way Wendi and I would be next door neighbors. Maybe someday...... I feel so lucky to have such a great family and even luckier that my sister is my best friend. She is so amazing and is such a great host. It was such a wonderful trip because of all of them. We made lots of really great memories this summer.

Show time

Wendi and I redid her table and chairs while I was there. It was a big job. We definitely put our sweat, blood, and yes tears into this table. (tears, because we ran into a few bumps along the way) But the end result is absolutely beautiful and it was so worth it. I love it.

Another one of the coupons said something about putting on a show. We thought this one was brilliant since it would require a lot of time. Which worked out as we planned. We were able to work hard on the table and chairs while the kids were entertaining each other. They did a great job and had us laughing hard. I tried to upload the video but it isn't letting me, I'll keep trying.

Pulling taffy

When I was a little girl one of my very favorite memories with my Grandma Steel was to pull taffy. She would make homemade taffy and then we would pull it until we couldn't pull anymore. It was always so yummy and of course fun because we got to be part of it. While we were in Utah we took my Aunt Linda out to lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square. Afterwards we were walking around and came upon a little sweet shoppe that had taffy starters. I was so excited remembering all those times with my Grandma. So of course we had to buy some. The kids pulled and pulled until they were so sticky and tired. It never did harden up like I remember but the kids all seemed to think it tasted fabulous.

Alaina, Kiegan, Ellie, and Jonah

The finished product!

Fun with Grandma Nancy

The day everyone went to Lagoon and me to the E.R. Jace and Tate got to be spoiled by Grandma Nancy. She pulled out all the fun stuff with no stops. They loved spending the day with Grandma and getting her complete and full attention.


They loved playing with the water guns and pretending restaurant with

her.

Lagoon and the swine flu

The one major thing we planned to do on this trip was to go to Lagoon. We all were so excited to go and to do it with cousins. It was Kiegan and Jonah's first time at a "real" amusement park. It was suppose to be so much fun...... The day before I woke up with my throat on fire and my uvula was so huge I could barely swallow and talk. I took some medicine and it seemed to help for a little while. Unfortunately that night was horrible. So bad that I admit I was in tears and just wanted to go home. I haven't been that sick since high school....seriously. I had to choose not to go to Lagoon with everyone. I was so bummed out. Mom was already planning on staying home with Jace, Tate, and Belle, so she had me to take care of also. I forgot how nice it is to have my mom take care of me. Wendi's church and all activities including girls camp had been cancelled because of so many out breaks of the swine flu. I think she said there was 15 cases just in her church/stake. So of course we were all worried when I had all the same symptoms. I was so miserable and couldn't take it anymore that I drove myself to the E.R. The minute I told the guy my symptoms he slapped a mask on me and banished me to a corner. I sat there all by myself, everybody else on the other side of the room, no masks. I felt pretty cool. I think they were pretty concerned because they whisked me right in. They immediately tested me for strep and the swine flu. Not a test I suggest to anyone. It was horrible. They put this "swab" up your nose as far as they can and scrape it around. They don't tell you before that the "swab" part isn't really a swab it is a pointy, scratchy part that feels like they are trying to pop your brain with. Horrible!!! After what felt like forever sitting there by myself they came in and gave me a huge shot and told me I only had a bad case of Strep. UGH! I haven't had strep since before I got my tonsils out in high school. I had forgotten how completely miserable you get with it and for a good week. I was so thankful for the good pain medicine the doctor perscribed. While I was at the E.R. the heavens above decided to pour like crazy as well as thunder. A huge storm that washed my family out of Lagoon. They were able to be there for 4 hours and had a blast, but sad they had to cut it short. I of course forgot to send the camera so no pictures of Lagoon, darn it!

More Cousin Pictures

Nicole, Raven, and Me. I love my sister-in-laws.

Belle with her Aunties

Love this picture of Claire and Belle

Sweet baby feet.

We have a picture of the babies feet when Calder was only a week old and his feet were already bigger than Belle's when she was 5 months. So we had to get a recent one. So sweet!

Cousins

We were so lucky to be in town at the same time that Nicole and Claire were visiting to. Raven was so nice to host all of us and our crazy kids (my crazy kids). We had lunch and then went to the park where we thought we were going to die in the hot dry desert. When we couldn't take it any longer we went back to Raven's and hung out for a bit more. The visit was way way to short but so so nice to see everyone. Kiegan and Claire took off just like they hadn't ever been separated. We miss all of them all ready. :(

Kiegan, Belle, Claire, and Calder


Claire, Belle, and Amelie

The boys with Calder

Buddies

I feel so lucky that my kids have such great cousins on both sides of the family. It's even better that they all get along so well. Mason was Belle's other best friend this trip. It was so sweet to see him play with her and love on her. She loves to be held by Mason. I love this picture of them together because you can see how much they really like each other.

I think this trip was especially fun for Tate. He is finally at the stage where he can really just play, no holding back, no being shy, totally himself. He really bonded with Jace and Josh this summer. It will be so fun to see them grow up together.

Tate & Jace

Tate & Josh