Dogs & Digits

Working at an elementary school is not your ordinary job! Tonight Steven was dressed as a hot dog for the Dogs & Digits night for their math program. Steven was such a trooper and I enjoyed watching him entertain the kids. I brought our crew to see what they would think of daddy, lets just say they were a little worried! Collin started crying just as soon as he saw him, Bryce couldn't stop staring at him with a blank look on his face and Addison didn't want to be held by the "hot dog". I'm sure one day they will get a kick out of daddy doing silly stuff like this but today was not that day. Seeing Steven do things like this reminds me of what a wonderful father he is and how much fun our kids are going to have with him when they are older.   

Addison wanting her mommy!

Bryce just confused!

Collin terrified!

Finally a good picture!

Colton and the Hot Dog!

Baseball season is here

I am so excited about baseball season this year because it means that spring is here and we can get out of the house for baseball games and enjoy the nice weather. Saturday we watched Colton's first t-ball game. 

The only thing I need to do is buy some sunscreen, with our bald heads it won't take long for us to get sunburned so we hung out in the shade for the last half of the game.

Collin

Collin is getting two more teeth for a total of 8 now! Collin has been a trooper with his teeth and only a little fussy when he got his top teeth but we haven't been that lucky with his two new teeth. Up until now we had a total of 8 teeth (Addison 2 + Collin 6) and I thought we were going to get through this teething thing easy but I guess they fooled me. Between Bryce and Collin we have been up at least 2 hours a night. Hopefully this phase will pass quickly and we will survive!

The many faces of Collin, our comical baby! He makes the funniest faces and has started this new anger face were he makes a fist and grits his teeth together but I think he does it all for the laughs. As soon as I get it on camera I'll post pictures.

Now that he is crawling he is exploring everything including the dishwasher

As I feed Addison and Bryce lunch I turned around to check on Collin and found him asleep, I guess we played too hard that morning!

Bryce

Our big boy is finally getting a tooth! It is one of his bottom teeth and I knew when his teeth started to come in he would not handle it well. Last night he was up at 1:00am fussing. Addison and Collin didn't fuss about their bottom teeth but I have a feeling Bryce is going to be fussy with every tooth he gets. He is trying to get up on his knees and move now. He can only go backwards and can get into a sitting position but it won't be long before he is taking off. I feel so bad for him because Addison and Collin will follow me into the kitchen and Bryce will be left in the living room by himself. When he realizes everyone is gone he gets so upset. He also pulls up on things now and is getting a little more steady when he's standing.  

He has so much hair now and daddy likes to spike it up!

Going backwards!

Addison

Addison is overall a very healthy little girl but on her 9 month check up her routine blood work showed she had a low platelet count. The rest of her counts(red/white blood cells, etc.) were fine The doctor thought it was probably a virus and we didn't have anything to worry about. Well the following week we did blood work again and it went up but not by much, we still thought it was okay to watch it so we did the same thing this week. On Monday the counts dropped again so the doctor decided it would be best for her to be checked out by a hemotologist. On Tuesday we made a trip to Texas Children and after a long 4 and a half hour wait we still don't have any answers! We do however have a list of things we (the doctors and us) are going to either eliminate or hopefully diagnose Addison with. At this point because we can't diagnose the problem we have to leave every possibility open. We are still hoping that it is just a simple virus that will go away soon but we want to make sure every possibility is checked out. We are blessed that she is in good hands with the doctors at Texas Children's and the Brenham Clinic. For now we will do blood work in two weeks and go back to TCH every month until we can diagnose the problem. We have to be very careful that she doesn't take any major falls because she is at a higher risk for internal bleeding and bleeding easier if she is cut. Dr. Lakshmi, our TCH doctor, has been very caring and has called checking on Addison so I feel confident she is being well taken care of. If we wouldn't have done the original blood test we would never know anything was wrong with her, she feels fine, acts fine, and is busy as ever so that is reasurring. Please pray that we find what's wrong quickly and that it is only something minor.

A little general information:

Normal platelet count rage 150-450

Addison's have been in the 30 rage

At birth her counts were 250 so this is something she's developed since birth.

She thought the braclet on her ankle was cool!

Not a fan of having to give blood :( I had to hold back the tears myself!

She is all girl and thought the pretty pink bandaid was pretty cute too!

Thank you, Grandma and Susan for staying with the boys, it would have been a long day trying to manage all three for 4 hours in a waiting room!

Surprise visit

Thursday morning we got a surprise phone call from my Aunt and Uncle that they were headed to Brenham to come meet the babies for the first time. They brought along my grandparents and we enjoyed seeing all of them. The babies loved every bit of the attention and put on a show for everyone. Uncle Mark and Aunt Linda follow my blog and always know what is going on with our crew but I think they enjoyed meeting the babies in person.

Grandma put Bryce and Grandpa to sleep!

Spring Break

This week was Steven's spring break but I said it was really a spring break for all of us. It was nice to have some help and a little relaxation time for both of us. With the nice weather we didn't mind doing yard work and some things around the house. We started off the week getting our yard back in shape, it was very neglected last year with me on bed rest and Steven trying to take care of me.
 We pulled weeds, juggled babies, pulled weeds, feed babies, mowed yard, juggled babies, planted flowers, juggled babies. Needless to say our neighbors were laughing at us trying to work and keep the babies happy!

Steven stayed with the babies one day and gave me a free day to do some shopping, that hasn't happened in a while and it was nice! On Friday my Aunt and Uncle decided to make the trip to Brenham to meet the babies for the first time. We spent some time downtown checking out the spring egg walk and of course some Must Be Heaven and ice cream.

Addison loved the eggs and would laugh when we sat her next to them, the boys weren't so crazy about mommy dragging them around and taking their picture.

Friday evening we enjoyed some adult time at the Houston Rodeo. Saturday Steven tried to get in a round of golf but the weather just didn't cooperate! Sunday we ended the week by helping Aunt Alison celebrate her birthday. 

Happy Birthday Aunt Alison!

"Makeup" Trip

Last year during spring break we didn't have much planned but we did have a doctors appointment on Wednesday in Houston. Our plan was to go to the doctor, then do a little shopping for baby stuff, then meet up with Steven's family at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo for a Gary Allan concert. I was so excited because I had not been to the Rodeo in years and we had awesome tickets in a suite with free food and drinks. Well the doctors appointment didn't turn out like I had planned and I was told to go on strict bed rest. Stupidly my first question was "so I can't go to the rodeo tonight?" I think the doctor thought I was crazy. All of my plans for the day were now out of the question and I was not happy about it. I tried to convince Steven to drop me off at the gate and I could get to the suite and sit but knew that probably wasn't a good idea. We made the right choice and went home (I do not regret that decision now that I have my healthy babies) but I sure was disappointed last year. I also later learned that the doctors thought I was going to go into labor that day which was very early (22 weeks) so we obviously made the right decision. Now one year later, I got to go to the HLSR with suite tickets(thanks Lindsey and Travis). A surprise visit from my aunt and uncle and grandparents meant we had plenty of babysitters so we enjoyed the show! We ate way too much but it was a great evening with Lindsey, Travis, Alison and Kevin.  

Happy St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patty's Day from our Good Luck Charmers and Daddy's Lucky Charm!

We didn't get any smiles this morning but everyone is looking at the camera (with no fingers in the mouth)!

Long overdue

I have already mentioned this in my 9 month update but thought I should share the details about Addison crawling for the first time. She officially crawled for the first time on her 9 month birthday (March 7th). About a week or two before that she started doing the "wounded soldier" crawl and could get anywhere she needed to. Occasionally she would get up on her knees for a "step" or two but would not crawl across the room. Now she and Collin follow each other chasing after toys, mommy, and each other and can get anywhere they want! The other day I caught the two of them crawling back and forth between the kitchen and living room. When they would stop in between Collin would crack up laughing at Addison, it was so cute but of course by the time I got the video camera out they wouldn't do it anymore. 

The wounded soldier crawl

On the move!

These two play so well together