Summer, Part 1...Birthdays!

Michael and Patrick are now 4 and Kaitlyn is now 2!!! Where has the time gone? Does anyone remember this?




These are my babies 4 years ago!!! They have come so far and it's amazing to look at them now. Here are some recent pictures for comparison.
Michael at his birthday party.

Patrick at his birthday party.

And, we can't forget Kaitlyn. Here is my baby 2 years ago, in the NICU.

And a current one...Kaitlyn at her birthday party.


It's amazing what the years do as they pass. When the boys were in the NICU I couldn't even imagine 4 years down the road, and yet here we are today. They are thriving and in preschool, and are the light of my life! And then when Kaitlyn was born, I was crushed by the fact that I couldn't take her home with me. That was one of the worst weeks of my life, but here we are again...2 years later and she's no worse for the wear. She's a beautiful, intelligent girl and the light of my life. I couldn't imagine life without the three of them...

So Happy Birthday Babies, and here's to many more!!!!!!

Where did I go???

I'm sure some of you are wondering where did I go since April. Well the answer is summer vacation! This summer has been extremly busy to say the least. It was jam packed with 3 birthdays, 2 times at VBS, 3 Summer trips, and then just regular life! I know it won't all fit in one post, but hopefully with pics and all, I can get it in 4 or so.

So, summer vacation...part 1 will be coming soon...

Our weekend!

Well before I get to the point of my post, photobucket finally decided to get it's act together and my pictures from Easter are resized properly now. So if they looked cut off before, please know we knew it and were trying to get it fixed so check them out now.

Now, this past weekend we had great family time. We took the kids and myself fishing for the first time. I think we all had a good time, but the boys got bored really quick, and we didn't catch anything :(. Hopefully next time we go will be better. I also think we need to find a better place to go. We are talking that possibly next time we go, we will go for a weekend and try camping too.

So, here are some pictures from fishing...






And some swimming pictures from the same day,






And a cute shot of the boys watching tv...




That's all for today!

HAPPY EASTER

All is quiet around here, for the first time all day. The kids are in bed and I finally have a few free moments to set and think about what I want to type.

EASTER!!!!!! It was a wonderful day. Some much needed calm, quiet family time. Easter weekend started off Friday with a trip to the Easter Bunny, and much to every one's surprise (At least I thought so), Patrick actually sat in his lap WITHOUT crying or having Mommy int he picture too. Here is the shot Robert got....he's not smiling, but at least he's not screaming.



After that on Saturday we colored Easter Eggs. That gets to be hard when you are the only one who can help, but we actually pulled it off. The kids LOVED decorating Easter Eggs this year, and while it was messy, it was so fun to watch their faces light up. Just take a look at these pictures...







And then of course, Kaitlyn didn't last too long.


And here are a few more from Easter Sunday. Don't they all look so cute all dressed up!! Too bad it didn't last long, but it's always nice to see them all dressed up.








This one I used the timer on, don't mind the mess.


And finally, this is what Kaitlyn decided to do with one of the boys' baskets.




We hope everyone had a great day and that we didn't bore you too much with the ton of pictues. I hate choosing favorites and I'd much rather share more that not enough, LOL.

Walk America

Well, we are doing Walk America this year. I've wanting to do it since the boys were born, but every time the walk would come up it would conflict with something else. Either Robert would be deployed or we were planning our vacation or what not. Well this year we finally have the opportunity! For those that might not know, I have three preemies. Here are their stories...

Michael and Patrick are fraternal twins born at 31 weeks. They were born early due to a placental abruption. On May 13th, I was feeling well that evening. I was up most of the night with pain in my back and major cramping. By 6am things started to get better so I thought it was just nothing and decided to get some sleep. I went to bed and slept until 12pm and decided I was hungry and got up to get some lunch. Around 2pm, I decided to go lay back down and get another nap, as I still didn't feel quite right. Around 4pm, I got up and was walking to the bathroom, when all of the sudden, I felt a gush and was soaked from the waist down. My water broke, and I was only 31 weeks pregnant. I got to the bathroom and screamed for my little sister to bring me the phone. She was mad as she came down the stairs until so saw what was going on. She ran to find the numbers we needed. What freaked her out the most, wasn't the fact that my water had broke, but it was full of blood and she knew that wasn't normal.

As we called everyone we needed to I began to have contractions. My first call was to my Mom to get her to come home and take me to the hospital. In hind sight, I should have had my sister drive me, but I wasn't thinking clearly. At 4:15pm, my Mom arrived home to take us to the hospital. At 4:30pm, I was in the ER and being wheeled up to Labor and Delivery. I was told I would need an emergency c-section and they didn't know if my OB would make it in time. Just as they were wheeling me into the OR my OB arrived and scrubbed in for an emergency delivery. At 5:40pm Michael was welcomed into the world and blue followed by Patrick at 5:41pm. Michael weighed 3 lbs 13 oz and was 16 3/4 inches and Patrick was 3 lbs 11 oz and 17 inches. I was told later that Michael was a very lucky little boy to be alive. He is documented in the operative report as an unsurvivable infant. The next 25 days were a roller coaster of emotions. It was one step forward two steps back for a long time, but now the are almost 4!! And you wouldn't know they were preemies unless you know their story.

Kaitlyn is a whole different story. I had problems with her pregnancy from about 20 weeks. I was having contractions and while they didn't seem to be doing much they were constant. I was put on procardia around 24 weeks and we waited. In March, I ended up in the hospital for a few hours with constant contractions that weren't stopping. They did finally get them to stop with three doses of terbutaline, fluids, and my normal dose of procardia. After that my procardia was increased and I was seeing my OB weekly, plus getting a biophysical profile every week and non stress tests twice a week. Two days before Mother's Day the OB didn't like the results of my non stress test. I was told to come in on Sunday and have another, if the results were good, Kaitlyn could stay put, but if not they would deliver her. Well the results came back great. On May 14th, at 36 weeks exactly I was taken off procardia and told if I went into labor they would deliver her. I was still scheduled for a c-section on May 25th, if I made it that far.

The evening of May 15th, I could feel the contractions starting. I was hoping they would just stay like they had been, but they were intense at times. Around 5am May 16th, I woke Robert up and told him I didn't think he would be going to work. He asked if my water had broke and I told him no, but the contractions were getting stronger and didn't seem to be stopping at all. I told him to go back to sleep and I was going to go in the living room and find something to do. At 7am I woke him and told him he needed to get up and get the kids some breakfast we needed to go to the hospital. Around 8am, we were heading to the hospital and the contractions were getting harder and harder on the way there. We arrived at the hospital around 8:45am, and told the desk I was having contractions. I was put into a room and placed on a monitor. They couldn't find any contractions on the monitor, but my OB happened to be there so they paged her and she came to check me out.

She went to check me and as she did a contraction registered on the monitor. They figured out if they wanted to get contractions, they couldn't keep Kaitlyn's heart beat on the monitor and vise versa. So my OB looked at me and said, I think we are having a baby today. She gave me some terb to try and make me comfortable while I waited for my time to have a c-section. The nice thing this time around was it wasn't an emergency. I was awake during the surgery and was able to hear Kaitlyn's first cry and see her following her birth. Kaitlyn entered this world screaming at 1:02pm weighing 5 lbs 12 oz and 17 inches long. She was assessed by neonataolgist and found be still be needing some assistance so she was taken to the NICU. I was able to see her later that day in the NICU.

While her stay in the NICU wasn't near as long as the boys it was still a roller coaster ride. Kaitlyn spent 7 days in the NICU before joining us at home. Now she is a healthy, wonderful toddler who will soon celebrate her 2nd birthday.

These are our 3 reasons for supporting the March of Dimes. While not all of us are touched by prematurity, all of us can find a way to support those who are. One of those ways is giving to the March of Dimes at this time. We are doing the walk to remember how fortunate we are this year and all the time, without the research about preemies our children might not be here. Please think about this when considering a donation to the Baker Bunch team. If you are moved by this story, please consider donating here, http://www.walkamerica.org/threepreemies. You never know how your donation might help save the life of someones child.

The worst year!

Okay, it hasn't all been this year, but since October, this has been the worst year. My Grandmother passed away in October, my Grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent surgery (we almost lost him during the surgery), in December my family was fighting with each other and that lasted until January and is still being dealt with to this day, in February we lost my cousin in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, and to bring us up to date, my Father had a heart attack and underwent cardiac bypass surgery this last week. I'm hoping this is the end of our "emergencies" because I don't know how many more I can take. I think I've spent more time of the road than at home recently.

My little sister was here for her spring break and all was going well. We took the boys to school on Thursday March 15th like nothing was going on. We decided to go out to Burger King and get some breakfast to kill some time before going to buy our zoo passes. As we are leaving Burger King my sister's cell phone rings. It's my Mom, she really upset and tells me sister that my Dad has been admitted to the hospital and they think he's had a heart attack. Well, after the year we've had so far we are ready to pack up , get the kids from school, and hit the road back to Kansas City. My mom tells us not to pull the kids form school yet since we don't know what is going on, but just keep the cell phone ready so as we get information she can call us.

Well, but noon, we are really beginning to wonder since we haven't heard form Mom. About the time we were ready to call her, she finally calls. Dad will have bypass surgery, but we aren't sure when. So we decide to wait and see if she know more later that night. We spend the rest of the day worried and debating what we should do. Around 6pm, we hear from Mom again. The surgeon is full for Friday and since he is stable and they are planning on waiting for Monday for the surgery. After talking with Mom we decided that we will stay here and go on with our weekend plans for two reasons, one I don't think the stress of having the kids in the hospital room all that time will be good on them or Dad and two, Dad says he doesn't want us to mess with our plans when we've already told the kids. So we decided to leave Sunday morning.

Our weekend plans went well. We went to the zoo and the Omniplex, and had a great time, but I have to admit, I felt really bad. Thinking about my Dad laying in a hospital bed while we were out enjoying stuff just put a small damper on the days. He was glad we went, but I still felt like I shouldn't be enjoying myself.

Anyway, fast forward to Sunday...we leave and make it to Kansas City, with only one casualty. Patrick's red Clifford Doggie, went MIA. I think we know where he got lost, but needless to say he didn't make it to my parent's house with us. We arrived in plenty of time to see my Dad and go to dinner with everyone.

We get up around 5:00am Monday morning to make it to the hospital to see Dad before surgery. We were told a nurse would be in contact with us during the surgery to let us know how things progress. We were told he is having 3 bypasses and surgery should be over around 1:00pm. Well, about 1-1 1/2 hours into the surgery the nurse comes out and talks to us. She says, Did you say he was having 3 bypasses done? We told her yes, she proceeded to tell us that has changed...it's going to be 5 possibly 6! We were shocked! Needless to say that added time to the surgery. He finally go out of surgery at around 2pm. We were able to see him around 3pm for a few minutes and then not again until visiting hours in the ICU.

All in all he came through surgery fine. He is now at home as of March 24th and seems to be doing well. Hopefully this will continue. This has been a wake up call for my family, and we know some things are going to change.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers during this time.

Home again...finally

I feel like we've been gone for a while, but I know it really hasn't been that long. My sister is in town now too so I don't know how often updates will be for the next week either. Let's see...we took our trip to Washington DC for my cousin's funeral and stayed an extra day for sight seeing. We stayed at my parent's house for one day and then back home. Really it was a fast trip, but I'm glad we did it. I felt like saying good bye and thank you for giving his life for our country was an honor. While the kids don't understand...it will be something to tell them when they are older. May he rest in peace and know that his job on Earth was done, and we will all see him again someday.

We stayed an extra day in DC and did some sight seeing. We were able to go see pretty much everything we wanted. I think the boys favorite was either the Lincoln Memorial or as they put it, "The Big Pencil". For the most part they all did really well in the car. I will post some pictures soon.

Other than that, life is getting back to normal. The boys went back to school on Thursday for the one day and then will get back into things this week. They seem to be happier with school again.

Since I have time...here are some pictures...

This is in front of the Washington Monument.


At the World War II Memorial.


I think this is the only picture I have of Kaitlyn alone this trip.


Me and the kids at Arlington National Cemetery.


Okay, that's all I have online right now. I'll have to get some others loaded, but I will post those later.

Unexpected news

Okay, I know it's been about a month, but life has so gotten in the way recently. I don't even remember the last thing I wrote about, so I should go check before I can too much farther. Be right back.....

Okay, that didn't take long. I guess it was when everyone was sick. Both the boys finally got over their ear infections and life finally seemed to be better until over President's Day weekend. Here is a quick run down of the weekend. We decided to go to Kansas City to help my Mom with her computer that weekend. Michael had a hearing test that morning at 8:30 am. Well we get there about 8:00am and the lady working registration is late. We were told we had to be registered at least 15 minutes prior to the appointment time...needless to say we were late.

We finally head down for the hearing test around 8:30am. And Patrick and Kaitlyn are just being obnoxious so Robert decides to take them back to the car and watch a movie, while Michael and I go to his appointment. Michael did GREAT! He does have what looks like some possible hearing loss or damage, but nothing that should affect his speech!!! WOOHOO, that is great news! We were told just to keep an eye on it and if we start having anymore problems to come back.

Great news, we got to breakfast and finally hi the road to Kansas City around 11am. So we spend the rest of the day in the car. When we are about an hour from KC, it starts to snow. Not to big a deal since we've dealt with that before, but it's coming down pretty good so we have to take it slow and it adds another half hour to the trip. Anyway, we finally get in and then weather is pretty good the rest of the time we are there. We got her computer up and working and everything.

Well everything went down hill Sunday morning. We were getting ready for church and the phone rings. We missed the call, but listened to the message and it doesn't sound good. It's one of my uncles and he sounds pretty upset. My Mom calls him back only to get the news that my cousin, 32 years old, has died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. We are all devastated.

It's so surreal. I mean you never expect it to happen to your family, and when it does you really don't know how to take it. Since this war on terrorism began we've been waiting for it to touch our family somehow and now it has. And while I know I can take comfort in the fact that the Lord doesn't make mistakes, it's still not easy to understand why he died so young. I mean his life was great. He got married like two years ago and just had a little girl in October! He will miss all of her life. And she loses out on one of the greatest blessing in life...her father raising her.

It really made me think about all the blessing God has given me in my life and how thankful I am for everyday I spend here. I hope we all remember to tell those we love, "I love you today". Because we never know when they might be taken from us.

Hug your little ones tight and give them extra hugs and kisses tonight.

Why can't I get a break???

Well we went to the Dr yesterday and guess what???? Patrick now has an ear infection. Big surprise there huh? It's just frustrating how ears can go from not infected one day to totally inflamed the next. Anyway, he's on antibiotics now for 10 days and seems to be feeling better already. You can always tell when he is really sick because he won't take meds or at least you have to fight with him to, but yesterday and today he wanted to take his "pink medicine". Anyway, they will all be back in school today. He's still coughing a lot, but the Dr said it's just a virus and what gave him the fever is the ear infection. Anyway, thank goodness they are all on the mend again.

We took the boys to their first basketball practice yesterday. They had so much fun once we got them into it. Patrick didn't want to do anything the first 30 minutes, but after I played with him a bit, he did great. He was trying to pass the ball, and really enjoyed shooting. I guess next week we will be working on proper technique for shooting and really starting to see where the kids are at to know how to help them better. Here is the only picture I got...



They seem to have fun...hopefully next week we won't have to fight Patrick so much.

Isn't that cute!

Kaitlyn is getting so big. I hope you enjoyed that little movie as much as we did last night.

Now for the not so fun part. We are dealing with the sickies again. I took Michael to the doctor on Monday due to drainage from his tubes, and guess what...He has an ear infection! ARRGH, this is frustrating. And now Patrick is complaining about his ears, so we are headed back to the Dr this afternoon. Patrick also has a REALLY bad cough, so hopefully this isn't anything too bad and he will be all better soon. He is on his 2ND day out of school, so hopefully it will get better quickly. Kaitlyn seems to be doing good, but has a cough so I'm just hoping no one else gets sick. We are in for another cold spell too, so I will be staying in the nice warm house with them all week/weekend to try and get them better for next week. I'll let everyone know what the Dr says today.

I'm off for now.

Kaitlyn's prayer

Update

I've been so busy with life. You might think a SAHM just sits around and does nothing, but that is so not true. We've been very busy in our house and it just going to get busier, LOL. I'm glad though because I hate just sitting around doing nothing.

We got our new washer and dryer as of Sunday morning, thank goodness as we NEEDED to do laundry. I love it and I will post some pictures of it soon.

The boys started Smart Start Basketball yesterday. It's a special program for 3 and 4 year olds to teach them the fundamentals of a sport. They can't wait to actually start trying to play. They each got two basketballs, a t-shirt, a scrimmage jersey, and a players manual. It will require us working with them at home, but I think they will really enjoy it. I was hoping they would get to play soccer this summer on a team, but it looks like they just miss the age cut off. I think they will be able to play in the fall. They keep telling me they want to play and I think this is a great time for them to start. It will also be good for them to be around other kids their own age and hopefully make some friends.

Michael started speech therapy again on Monday. He really seems to like it.

If it's not one thing it's another

Well as most people will say, if it's not one thing...it's another and so that' where we are today.

It all started yesterday when I decided to do laundry. I got everything loaded, like always, started the washer...heard water running left the room. Didn't think anything of it until lunch time. I remembered I had a load in and needed to switch it and get the next load going. I go into the laundry room, lift the lid to the washer, and do you know what I see?? A washer full of water!! It never finished cycling. So, I play with the dial, check the electricity in the room, everything I can think of and nothing works. It won't drain, cycle, or even start for that matter. So, I call Robert on his cell phone...he has no clue what I'm talking about. He comes home and looks at it and can't figure it out. We go out for the evening, and come home and he attempts to take it apart to no avail...couldn't get inside without a lot more work than he wanted to put in it at 9:00 pm, so he tried to turn it on. Guess what...it actually turns on and starts going. Okay, it's a little loud, but if it will drain I'll take it. We decide to stay up with it while it cycles to see if we can figure out what's going on. It went fine for about 10 minutes, when we hear it shut off. What is going on? We go look and it hasn't drained or anything. He said I think it's the motor, so I guess now we have to go look for a new washer at least. If I have to replace one I'm thinking we might be better off just to replace both, but I don't know right now...this just isn't something I want to deal with right now. I have no way to do laundry and we have a big winter storm coming in that is supposed to give us between 5-12 inches of snow. I don't want to have to deal with all of this at once!!!! And I know God won't give me more than I can handle and everything happens for a reason, but I have no clue where money for a new washer is coming from. I fell like every time we start to get ahead, we fall farther and farther behind...UGH! Thanks for listening...

One week and more expected

Well as of today the boys haven't gone to school in a week. I didn't realize how old they are really getting until having them home full time again. I will have to find them something to do this summer or I'm going to go nuts. Anyway, we did get ice and sleet, but not near as bad as the weathermen predicted. It might have been a couple inches total over the weekend. Anyway the boys were out of school Monday for Martin Luther King Jr Day, but then starting Tuesday they've been out because of the weather. They don't have the ability to clear roads here, so road conditions are hazardous for buses and such so we just cancel school. And while I agree that this is good for safety reasons, I'm beginning to wonder how many days of school they are planning on tacking on at the end of the year. They've already taken away 2 holidays...none of which affect the boys since they don't go to school on Fridays.

The other thing is, I'm going crazy!! I really need that time with them in school. That's when I can get the cleaning and housework done, and with them home it's a bear to find time for that. I finally got some of it done yesterday and Robert was very thoughtful when he got home, but I feel like I'm neglecting it during times like this. I wonder how this summer is going to go...I guess at least then I will be able to send them outside in the backyard.

The bad news of all of this is they are calling for another round of winter storms to hit us this weekend! We are being predicted to get 5-10 inches of snow, most of which will fall on Saturday. I hoping if won't be that bad, but I really don't think the boys will be going back to school next week either...only time will tell.

Is the world coming to an end??

Last night we went to Walmart couldn't find a parking space in the parking lot. Needless to say we didn't even try the store. Now I understand that we are having an ice storm coming in, but my goodness. People are acting like it is the end of the world and they won't be able to get out for at least a week. They are calling for it to be bad this weekend, starting today and ending on Sunday. Then we decided well we will go on base to the BX and Commissary. The BX was completely out of salt so that was a no go. And the Commissary was as bad as Walmart! The line wrapped around the whole store. Now mind you they have a queue for people that is two lanes, and it addition to that it wrapped around from the diary section to the produce, and this was less than an hour before closing. So imagine you local grocery store that bad and you will know what I'm talking about. The good thing for us was I was able to get everything I need in less than 15 items so we got to go through the express line. I was smart and went and got my WIC while the kids were in school, of course that is a totally different store since I ended up leaving my wallet there, but anyway...it was recovered and everything was in it...I only left it for about 5 minutes and the cashier had found it immediately.

I understand the weather is going to get bad, but I guess people don't keep anything on hand here, of well hopefully it won't be too bad.

Two posts in one day, WOW

I must be caught up on housework, LOL. These are the remaining pictures I promised...enjoy


These were taken at the OKC Science Center.




These are the OKC zoo.












And now Halloween, well apparetnly this is the only one I have actually form Halloween. The rest are form Boo at the Zoo, a few days prior.










Okay, I've put up too many as it is for now. Hope it didn't take too long to get through them.

Funny story...

Too bad I forgot to take pictures.

But anyway, last night I was giving the kids a bath. Kaitlyn had gotten a Christmas present from our friends in WA and it was a bath finger painting set. Anyway, they were all playing with it and I decided it was time to wash her and get her out. Well, that all went like it should, no problems. Got her out and sent her to her Daddy to get ready for bed. Well, I told the boys I'd be back in a minute I needed to go in the other room. So I go and I'm doing some stuff and I hear Mommy, Mommy, KK's in the bath. Well I thought they meant she was in the bathroom, but nope. After a couple more times of hearing that I hear Robert come upstairs. I guess he found Kaitlyn fully DRESSED in the bath tub plying with the boys!!! He brought her to me in the other room and she was soaking wet. Needless to say, she needed dry jammies and a new diaper.

Less learned, make sure the bathroom door is clicked closed before leaving the room with a toddler on the loose.

Life is back to normal...almost

I can't wait for the boys to return to school. I know that sounds bad, but it's not because they are bad or driving me crazy, but more because I feel like they don't get enough stimulation at home right now. I'm just so busy trying to keep up with the housework and Kailtyn, I feel like they get the short end of the stick, if you know what I mean.

I really came on here to share some of our Christmas photos...hopefully I can remember what I'm doing, LOL.

These are from Christmas...I'll post some from the time between WA and here in a separate post...

Okay, it's a little cheesy, but it's the best I could get.


This year's Santa picture


Our Family, taken Christmas Eve


The boys opening presents


Kaitlyn opening presents


Kaitlyn sitting in her new chair (Thanks Aunt Tina!)



I think that's all the Christmas ones I'm going to share. I have more, but I have laundry to do. I might be back later with another post with pictures from before Christmas...including Thanksgiving.

Another New Year

Okay so yes as usual this is late. I just don't know what id going on with time...is seems to be passing me by as usual...Let me update....Oh starting back just before we left WA!!!

On Oct. 20th, I got word that my Grandma had passed away. It was very unexpected and really took me off guard. If certain people, in personnel had done their job right we most likely would have made it for the funeral, unfortunately that did not happen. We got to Kansas City a couple days afterwards. I miss my Grandma, but I'm happy she isn't suffering anymore and I know I will see her again some day.

We were in Kansas City for Halloween and left there on Nov. 2nd and arrived in OK. We got here only to find out we didn't have a house for another month. Now living a month in a hotel with 3 children 3 and under is NOT fun. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but needless to say we lived and moved into our new house like I posted on Dec. 4th.

We are loving the new area. The boys are going to school 4 days a week, half a day. They are on winter break right now. They go back on Jan. 9th, and we are all looking forward to getting back on schedule.

I did find the camera, and I just need to load the pictures and I will post them. Hopefully I'll also get better at posting here too.

Until next time......

We are officially moving in!!

Well, I know it's been a while, and this post won't be much better, but here it goes. We are officially in our new home in OK. We moved in on Monday and got connectedback to cable, internet, and phone today. Now, we just have to get the boxes unpacked. Hopefully by the end of the weekend we will be completely box free and have our Christmas decorations up. I will load some pictures soon to share...just have to find the camera, LOL.