Ear infections are not fun

Last night was pretty much miserable...Austin was up most of the night. Just took him to the doctor and he has an ear infection!!!! This is his second one in two months. The only two he has ever had. I had kinda forgotten how miserable we all were around Thanksgiving when the boys were sick, however last night all the memories came flooding back. We knew it was going to be a long night when Austin absolutely wouldn't go down for bed. He always goes down no problem, last night he was in there screaming within 5 minutes of going to bed. When I got him up, he continued to scream uncontrollably for almost an hour. He was arching his back and his face was red from screaming. It was horrible. I knew almost instantly that it had to be his ears. That was exactly what happened last time. He was up almost the whole night! Dr. Macias looked in there today and confirmed it. Poor little love bug. Kaden is snotty and acting a bit under the weather, but so far he has no infection or inflammation in his ears. My o my! I hate ear infections!

On a positive note, as you can see from the video below, Austin is talking a lot now. He is babbling constantly and is getting better and better at defending himself against his big brother.

Kaden is hilarious these days. I love the fact that he is really thinking about things and using his imagination. His favorite thing to do these days is making forts. He takes off every cushion on the couches and arranges them to form little hideouts. This story is a bit gross, but i have to tell it. Just so you can understand the depth of what Kaden is understanding and thinking about these days. He was eating some lunch the other day and I was sitting up at the table with him. He made a noise like he was choking or coughing, sometimes when this happens we say "did it go down the wrong pipe?", so he starts to couch. He swallows and says "Oh, it went down the RIGHT pipe!" I started explaining to him what happens when food goes in your mouth, that it goes in your stomach and then you poop it out...Probably not the best conversation to be having at the table, Oh well. I wasn't sure if that was too much for him to comprehend and I was just waiting to see what he thought about that. He was sitting there thinking about it and then he says, "so if you eat something scratchy your poop will hurt?" Still not sure why I decided to go there.... You get an idea of what he is thinking about. He will be 3 in April, I can't believe how fast it has gone! Where did my baby go?!!! Oh wait...here he is!

A conversation with Austin...

Monsters

Kaden has been really into dinosaurs and monsters lately. These were taken last week.

The other night while I was doing dishes, Kaden comes up behind me making these growling noises. He was saying, "I'm a dinosaur! rawr!" Then he lunged after me and bit me right on my butt. I told him that he could be dinosaur all he wanted but he needed to be a nice dinosaur that doesn't bite. I thought it was pretty funny. As you can tell by the picture below he is a very scary dinosaur...

priceless

Our little love bugs...

A visit from Aunt Melissa and Uncle Stan

Mike and Austin

First of all, can anyone believe that it is already January 22nd?!!!! This last weekend we had Aunt Melissa and Uncle Stan in town for a much needed visit. We waited outside our house on Saturday afternoon for them to arrive, the weather was beautiful and we just could not wait to see them! Saturday night we bbq'd up some Chicken, steak, and vegetable skewers. They were so yummy. After the kids went to bed we played spades. Saturday night our game came to an abrupt halt when Mike and I heard Kaden throwing up...In the morning he was in a great mood, didn't seem to be feeling sick, so we all headed out to area in Pismo where the monarch butterflies are.
Mike and Austin again...

It was so sunny and perfect out there. We decided to walk on the trail down to beach.

Austin had a blast playing in the water and in the sand. Kaden was not a fan of the beach and I walked back with him.

The boys loved having Aunt Melissa and Uncle Stan around and didn't leave them alone the whole time. We had a great weekend with them. Thanks for coming guys! xoxox

It couldn't have been any prettier today...

It was such a pretty day today! We went with my Mom and Brother on a the Bob Jones trail and walked to Avila. The boys played at the park and we walked to the pier. I couldn't believe how perfect of a day it was. It was a really long walk for us all!!! We are home now and somehow, someway, the boys didn't take a nap and are up playing in the backyard. They have so much energy!!! WOW! Here are some pictures of the perfect day here!

A good week...

We had a good week this week! We are well once again...I have been able to get out of the house and get exercise every day this week! I am so proud of myself for making the time for me, and I feel the difference. I know now that that is what was missing from my life and I just need it to function. It's something I've known, it's just a matter of doing it!!!

Here is a little funny story about Kaden...

The other night we were having a really hard time getting him to go to sleep. This has been an issue with him for weeks now. We have tried everything it seems and the boys just doesn't want to go to sleep without putting up a fight. He acts scared and panicky and I'm just not ok with letting him cry in his room if he is really scared...Whatever...So this particular night we asked him if he would want to come and lay with us in our bed. Usually as soon as Kaden gets in there with us, he asks to go in his room and he goes to sleep. Don't ask, not sure if this is a power struggle between us or what...Anyways, I told him to snuggle up to me as close as he can, because Mike has a really hard time sleeping with the babies in the bed. So, Kaden is snuggling up to me really close. Mike was messing with Kaden a little and snuggled up to him really close and had his arm over him and me. Kaden quickly acted very aggitated and told him to get away. Here is the conversation between the two of them...

Mike: "But I'm trying to snuggle with Mama"
Kaden: "NO! I'm snuggling with Mama"
Mike: "But she is my wife, I want to snuggle with her!"
Kaden: "NO! She is my wife!"

Mike and I both laughed and laughed about that one. The boys are so funny!

I think Austin has just gone through a growth spurt because he just seems so tall now and all the sudden seems like a big boy. We had a friend over the other night that had a two year old boy. Austin was almost as tall as him. It really put things into perspective. Our boys are big!!! They are just tall. Austin got busted several times for trying to hit. Kaden was also being a little bit of a bully too! I was kind of embarrased about that. Oh well, as long as nobody gets hurt, boys will be boys!!!

I will leave you with a few pictures of this week!

We have had a rough week...Austin woke up last Sunday with a fever in the middle of the night. He continued to have a fever off and on for about 3 days. It was weird because as soon as the fever would go away, he acted fine. He would laugh, play, run around...Soon enough, the fever would return and he would be back on sick mode. No other symptoms though, no throwing up, so running nose, nothing...He felt better about about 3 days and I thought Kaden was in the clear because he seemed ok. Friday he woke up from his nap with a fever! ugghh...He had the fever off and on that night and the next morning he was in bed most of the day. He threw up twice and was pretty miserable. It was real similar to Austin though, because as soon as I was able to get the fever down, he acted totally normal. This went on through yesterday. So far today, everyone seems well and healthy. We have really had a hard season of being sick. The boys have barely been sick up until now. It is just so sad when you feel so helpless as a parent and want to do everything to can to make them feel better but you can't. It's a horrible feeling.

Mike and I somehow did manage to go out on New Years eve though. My Mom came over and watched the boys while we went out to dinner with my Dad and Stepmom. We went to Steamers and had a really good dinner. We were home by 10 and somehow managed to stay up till midnight. I should say, I made it to midnight...Mike was fast asleep on the couch next to me. I should have just gone to bed because the kids were up at 6:30 the next morning raring to go. New Years day Mike and I decided to cook a turkey dinner. We got a turkey right after Thankgiving for really cheap. We made a turkey dinner with all the regular side dishes...stuffing, mashed potatos, rolls, salad, and apple crisp for dessert. It was really good and my Mom and brother came over for dinner.

I have finally become super motivated to get into shape. I am really over feeling fat and I really want to do something about it. We were going to buy ourselves a treadmill for Christmas but decided against for several reasons. Mostly because it was such a large amount of money for us to spend all at once. We found an amazing deal on a B.O.B. double jogging stroller and I have been walking/running with the boys for exercise. So far it has been working out great. Mike has also been wanting a machine for doing pull ups, dips and abs. We found one at Big 5 and scored when it was marked incorrected and got it for only $99! Sweet! I feel like this year will be a year of achieving goals that I myself have wanted for a long time. I just really want to feel good about myself again! I'm gonna do it...I don't care what it takes. Now I leave you with some pictures of our little men!
I though this picture was hilarious! "What you talking about Willis?" face...

And an amazing video of Kaden wishing Austin a Happy New Year! He is talking about dogs too. Just in case you can't really understand what he is saying...enjoy the cuteness!

2009...

Happy New Year Everyone!!!