Happy Halloween!

We had so many parties, had to do photo collages to get them all in! :) I am constantly amazed at how old Hailey is and this Halloween was no exception! We carved our pumpkins tonight (I know a little late, but better late than never!) and Hailey had drawn the face on them, helped get the gunk out and took pictures of Nich & I carving! She's a pretty good photographer! :)

Last Sunday we took the kids to the Zoo Boo and got all dressed up! It was great! Trick or treating, costumes, storytelling, balloon animals, carnival games, Acapazoo concert! We were there for 3 hours but packed everything in!

Hailey: Ballerina/Princess/Rockstar, Brooklyn: Lady Bug, Brennan: Duck, Landon: Superman!

Girls riding on the horse - I love this picture! Brooklyn knows the secret of getting out of the stroller already and cries until she gets her way...ahhh!!


Snuggly pose getting ready for the Halloween Carnival at a local church. We went with some friends Saturday, then hit up some houses (which were sadly hard to find) for trick or treating!

Getting everyone redressed what too much work! Their costumes don't fit in car seats so we just left them without at the carnival :)
Our little indecisive one! Here's a collage of all of her costumes this year! We had the zoo boo, ADAM group's party, trick or treating at the nursing home, Halloween party at day care and Halloween carnival at the church. Of course she had to be something different each time!

Our sweetheart made trick or treat bags for Uncle Joe and Katelyn and wanted to send them off! We snuck the candy out of them so they'd actually fly! :) She dictated the note..."Dear Katelyn, Uncle (Joe), God and Mary..." She had colored a picture and we had to fold it so she wanted to make sure they knew to open it! She even wrote her own name! The green star balloon is for Uncle Joe, pink balloon for Katelyn and the gold star balloon was for God ("because he made the whole world and needs a balloon!" - Hailey). God's balloon helped give ours an extra boost to get it to heaven too! As usual...we thought we found the best place in the yard to let the balloons off, let them go and they got stuck in the tree! Nich shook the tree until it came unhooked then we were clear!

And to top it all of....Nich and the kids did the Monster Mash! http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/q4PGaQ1eKAdX7Uou Happy Halloween!!

Landon's Swallowing!!

So since the summer Landon has totally regressed eating and isn't taking anything by bottle without gagging and throwing up. We've been concerned because we know he can do it (he did for 3 months), but everything we've tried hasn't worked...switching formula, spreading out his feeds so he'd be hungry, thickening with rice cereal rather than Simply Thick. I tried to feed him a bottle about 2 weeks ago, but he aspirated and that kinda scared me away from feeding him again. We were waiting for a swallow study (done today!) to know what he can handle. Well, results say he has gotten a bit better, but not enough to switch him to regular consistency. But the BEST thing of the whole day...we learned he CAN swallow! To get him to swallow during the test, they squirted milk in his cheek. He did great! They gave us the syringe to take home to feed him and at his 9pm feed he swallowed 40cc (just over an ounce) of milk!!!! Here's a thrilling video of him swallowing! Probably not thrilling to most to watch a baby swallow for 30 seconds, but for this baby - thrilling doesn't even begin to describe how excited we were! Praise GOD for progress!!

It's my life

I know it's been so long since I've posted last, I'm feeling a bit accomplished and back on my game. We've been overwhelmed with work, appointments, sickness...just life! But I think I'm back on track! I know you are all waiting for a baby update, but trust me that takes awhile now! Plus, Nich knows a lot more if their development, weights, etc anyway, but PROMISE it will come!

I did want to share an epiphany God laid on my heart yesterday at church. I promise Pastor Phil, I was paying attention, but what really got me out of the service was the song Enough by Chris Tomlin. Lyrics go - "All of You is more than enough for all of me. For every thirst and every need, You satisfy me with Your love and all I have in You is more than enough." That is so true, but I haven't been feeling it lately...I think that's why I've been off my rocker. So I've been struggling with my life. My life as a wife, mom of a preschooler, mom of multiples, mom of special needs children, mom/sister/granddaughter of loss, mostly the last one. Nich I had this idea of a big family, (a healthy one - in the past I didn't even think I needed to clarify!) a complete one but a year later our lives have been turned upside down. I know we are so blessed with the children we have, the miracles we've witnessed and life we're living, I just long for Katelyn, Joe and healthy normally developing children. So while I was thinking of all of that, I remembered Paul praying for contentment. He knew what it was to be in need and to have plenty, but says he has learned to be content in his circumstances. He learned the secret of contentment - Jesus! (Philippians 4:11-13). That's now my prayer, for contentment. This is my life, no matter what I long for and cannot change. Once I accept my circumstances, no one or nothing can steal my peace (I did get that from the sermon!! :). Then I am not easily distracted by what might have been and solely focused on the opportunities I now have to grow and share through our circumstances. We have been connected to so many through what God has brought us through and are so thankful to share our journey! Back to the song..."You are my supply, my breath of life. Still more awesome that I know." He's the basis and the secret of my peace and contentment. Today I put a reminder to be content and be used! Thanks Paul for sharing the secret at just the right moment!

Videos of playing at home

I have been a really bad blogger. Haven't been in the mood and have been so busy to settle down to write about it. I have a lot to catch up on! I know you'll enjoy these videos in the meantime! :)



I just LOVE our family! Spent some lazy time at home this morning just playing! Hailey and Daddy showed Brennan and Brooklyn how to play patty cake!




After patty cake we all got in a line to play choo-choo! We just had such much fun today!