A Monkey Birthday Party for Our Two Silly Monkeys!

   This post is a tad late...ok... A LOT late, but I think I am honestly still in denial that Camden is 1 and Alexander is 3. Since their birthdays are less than a week apart we threw them a huge joint party together! Alexander was OVER the top excited and I was really excited too about seeing family I hadn't seen in what felt like forever. We talked about it for months, planned everything to a T and woke up to this the morning of the party to this...

    Apparently Alexander is VERY allergic to something as he had these horrible welts/hives all over this trunk, legs and feet. Alexander has had hives several times before, but nothing like this.  We didn't know WHAT to do and his party was only hours away. He was moaning in pain and itching ...and we were utterly shocked. I'm usually a  "wait and see approach"  kind of Momma before heading to the docs, so we decided to give him benadryl (which by the way undoubtly makes him very tired/grumpy as one would expect) and see if it got worse. They went down a little but we kept him dosed very 4 hrs to keep his hives down for the party which was outside in June. Thankfully the weather was AMAZING. But the poor thing was miserable and I felt so bad as he had been counting down the days to his party for 3 months! And the whole time at the party I was questioning my "momma instincts" on if I made the right decision not taking him to the doctor...wondering the whole time if we would end up in the ER that night. All in all he was as happy as he could have possibly been given the circumstances and I tried to smile and act like I wasn't honestly worried to death about him! ;)
     Even though circumstances weren't as planned, we still had a great time! We got to see lots of family, eat good food and the boys were blessed beyond measure with wonderful gifts!  It was so good to see faces that I hadn't seen in almost a year due to all the circumstances with Camden's LM. I wanted to run up and hug each person over and over again...and I think I actually might have hugged a few people like 3 times...sorry about that! ;) We kept the party pretty short as we didn't really want Alexander to get to hot and were unsure of honestly what was going on with him.  Alexander talks about his monkey birthday party every day and about all the family who were there and how he loves all his new presents! He also wants to know if his next birthday is here yet so we can get more presents!? lol  Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the family who helped us go bananas for the boys birthday! Here is a little glimpse of our Birthday fun!

 

 

                                                        

Happy 4th ya'll!

   We had the most A-M-A-Z-I-N-G 4th of July ever this year doing simply...nothing. We spent the day as a family enjoying each other's company in the baby pool, sprinkler and grilling out. We couldn't help but be thankful as our last 4th of July was spent watching an apnea monitor and feeling sick to our stomachs after just bringing home a baby we thought we had no idea how to take care of. But our God is SO good and here we are are a year later blessed beyond measure and this 4th of July was just a reminder of how blessed we truly are.
   The boys spent the day splashing in the baby pool and Alexander ran around in the sprinkler most of the day too. Nothing brings my heart more joy than watching my boys giggle while playing together. I love to watch them play together..it's those moments during the day that I thank God for my babies, my boys, my miracles, my gifts.
    After hours of water fun, we ate a slammin' dinner made by chef Dadda that all of us gobbled up in a matter of seconds.  I was super excited to watch Camden gobble up Ant's homemade burgers, as it has been a struggle to get him to eat any table food but he was a fan for sure! Props to Dadda! ;) After dinner Alexander made his jello American flag, which wasn't the prettiest, but boy was he proud of himself! He loved every minute of it and ended up eating straight from the glass bowl. Camden loved the jello flag also, double success!
    Ant and I ended the night side by side cuddled up on the couch watching fireworks on TV and hoping all the crazy people setting off local ones wouldn't wake are sleeping darlings. No we didn't do anything extravagant and no we didn't see any fun parade or crazy firework show...but our day was absolutely terrific and we enjoyed every moment of just being together celebrating our freedom.  I hope everyone else had a wonderful 4th of July also. Our freedom is a true blessing...one never to be taken for granted! Special thanks to all who serve to provide such a huge gift, freedom. You truly are heroes!

                                                

Happy Father's Day!

      I just wanted to wish a Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Dads out there, especially to my wonderful husband. I don't blog enough about how blessed my boys and I are to have such a wonderful man in our lives. Anthony is a blessing beyond measure to all of us on a daily basis. He is my everything and has supported me from day one in every way possible. He loves his boys and it shows in every word, action and thought in his everyday life.  He works around the clock to provide for us so I can stay home with our boys and for that we are so thankful.
   Anthony, the boys adore you and Alexander already wants to be just like you. You mean the world to me and I am thankful to have such an amazing, Godly man for a husband.  Your hard work and dedication never goes unnoticed and we admire you. Thank you for being you! We love you to the moon and back! 

First day as Daddy meeting his Alexander

Anthony and Camden

                                          

Happy 1st Birthday Camden Thomas!

    Dear Camden,

          The day finally came..you are officially o-n-e!  As much as I didn't want to write this post, it had to be done. I can try and deny it all I want, but its here, you are one and mommy needs to stop crying over it. In the beginning I wanted you to grow as fast as possible in hopes that your LM nightmare would finally be over. But as the weeks went by and you actually got worse, not better, I realized it wasn't going to be over for a while.  You taught me  very fast that I needed to soak up every single moment with you, not wish it away in hopes that life would be somewhat normal again.  We found a new normal and you have filled the last 365 days with more laughter and smiles than tears my sweet baby.
    Only a few things have changed since your 11 month update. You love to wave bye-bye, drink from a regular cup, and your absolute favorite thing right now is taking a bath with your brother. You are still mostly on purees due to the fact that you still gag very easily b/c of your LM and you really don't care but to chew on your sippy cup. I know we are "suppose" to take your bottle away at 12 months, but momma is throwing those rules out the window. Who made these silly rules anyways? I think it will be a slow process, but I know we will get there eventually. You have taught me not to worry about the small things, thank you for that.
    We love you Camden more than words could ever say. You drastically changed our lives in ways I never even thought imaginable. And while I thought when you turned one everything would be completely normal and you would no longer have stridor, I am finding that isn't so. You are working on your 9th tooth and your stridor has returned on and off the past few days. Its a reminder that we aren't completely there yet, but you have come so far buddy and we are so proud of you.  You are still are super sweet, cuddly, smiley, shy, easy going baby, but have decided to throw a few tantrums in the mix lately that are actually pretty cute.  Thank you for wanting to be held, cuddling with me, giving me kisses and hugs every time we pick you up.  You are a miracle to us Camden, one we will never take for granted. We hope one day these infant days are a complete blur, but we will never forget what a blessing you are to our family.
   Happy 1st Birthday Camden Thomas! We look forward to spending this next year watching you grow right a long side your big brother. You complete our family. We are thankful God chose to bless us with the gift of you. <3

3 days old

1 week old meeting Big Brother for the first time.

3 months old

6 months old

9 months old

1 year