Happy Halloween

Alive and well

Max and Sam are recovering from their surgeries.

You could say that they are on their way back to normal. Sam is doing very well.

Maxwell still has his up and down moments of pain. He has the harder recovery though.

All in all, they are doing much better than I ever imagined. 

The ENT found some extra things during Maxwell's bronchoscopy that she had to take care of

(His airway was 30% occluded- subglottic stenosis again, and he had a little laryngomalacia).

Samuel's surgery went the way she'd expected. It was incredible to see the before and after pictures.

She also found so much fluid and junk in his airway and explained that he has been aspirating. 

The ENT has been very cautious about our boys and their airways.

They are both on breathing treatments to prevent any additional airway complications.

We have had so much love, support and prayers from family and friends. 

We are so grateful, and we feel so blessed and loved. Thank you!

A few fall things

1.  The leaves are starting to fall.

2. A trip to the fire station during library story time. 

3. Kathryn dressed up as Cinderella on Fantasy Day during Spirit Week.

4. Our high school had an amazing win for their homecoming game. 

5. A preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch.

Brothers

Oh man I love these boys.  They are becoming such good little buddies. 

Sure, they fight, and scream at each other and wrestle. A lot. But that's typical, right?

I adore them and their big blue eyes and infectious smiles.

 I love to hear them laughing together. 

I imagine that is probably one of the happiest sounds for a parent to hear.

Maxwell is learning to be such a good big brother. He really tries so hard to help Samuel.

They are both going in for surgery next week, as long as they can stay healthy.

They are terrible sleepers, snorers, mouth breathers, irregular breathers and constantly sick. 

It's been a rough three years for all of us. So, we finally took them to our pediatric ENT.

She saved Maxwell's life following his cleft lip surgery at seven weeks old. 

(He had subglottic stenosis and his airway was 70-80% occluded. Needless to say, we love and adore her).

Maxwell is having his tonsils and adenoids removed. She said his tonsils were so infected and his adenoids were so enlarged, it's no mystery why he has croup and respiratory infections so often.

 And Samuel is having his adenoids removed and laryngomalacia taken care of.

When she saw his airway during the scope, it was completely covered with floppy tissue.

She was amazed that he can eat and breath as well as he does.

We are anxious to have the surgeries behind us and to be on the road to recovery.

We hope that it will help solve their health problems.

There of course is a part of me that is expecting the absolute worst to happen. 

Call me a worried mother. It's kind of like I need to give myself a heads up just in case. 

Our boys are fighters though and all will be well.

Ten Things

1. There are three things that I love about this picture: 1) Max is wearing his mittens  2) Sam's hair looks a little like he's been electrocuted  3) Sam has my hairdryer. Lately he's taken to dragging all my hair tools around the house.

2. We are in the middle of fall soccer right now. Kathryn is still unsure about this sport, but I'm glad she's still trying it out. It's been a little different this year playing on a bigger field and using goalies. 

3. What more can I say about this picture...awesome ride man!

4. We went target shooting as a family one evening. As you can see, Michael wants to break them in young. I on the other hand, want to eat them up because of their cuteness. The last picture is killing me. Maxwell looks so well behaved. Ha!

5. Nap time for this little guy involves me laying on the floor by his crib. He always gets up to peek on me from the top of the crib. But my favorite is when he is close to falling asleep and he peers through the bars. I love those sweet blue eyes.

6. It was a glorious afternoon yesterday, so I cleaned out the garage while the kids played outside. I turned around to find Sam swimming in this puddle. He was really going for it. And then, I found Kathryn leading Maxwell around the yard. They were playing explorers, and for some reason, she had tied a rope to his hat. I guess that's one way to keep track of him.

7. Unloading the dishes is a work of art for Kathryn.

8. Maxwell has found a new place to dig.

9. Kathryn wore her pajamas on Pajama Day for spirit week.

10. We are having a low key preschool co-op this year. One of their field trips was to the driving range. The kids had a blast golfing. They were equally thrilled to find a caterpillar on the course too.

Another year wiser

Happy Birthday to my sweetheart.

We love you! We love you! We love you!

 And just to remind you of your age this year...

Backyard Camping

This is as far as we made it camping this summer...to our backyard. 

Oh well, better luck next summer. The calendar just seemed to fill up too quickly to make it happen.

The kids still had a blast anyway.

 While Michael and the older kids put up the tent, Sam entertained himself with the cat door.

No, we do not own a cat. It's just a luxury that came with the house.

However, we do have a few that roam our yard occasionally...not sure if they've used that door.

 We even made popcorn and roasted marshmallows over the "camp stove".

And here's a picture of the morning after a restful night sleep.

Who am I kidding?! Sam and I were inside all night. That tent is too small for a family of five.

So thank you to Michael for camping in the backyard with the kids. Kat and Max loved it.