first stitches

Well it was inevitable with two boys now the likelihood of someone needed stitches is higher. Surprising as it is it was little L who needed them. Poor little guy. He got in the recycle stuff and there was a metal peel top from a can of formula. He sliced his pinky finger right open. When he was crying I went over to him and thought he had grabbed a lid of the tomato sauce we had used the night before but then I realized that it was blood (we also rinse out all the cans before we put them in the bin to recycle, so that wasn't very logical). Of course Justin was out on a run. Luckily he was oncall so he had the cell phone with him. I rinsed off his finger to assess the damage and then put pressure. I can't believe how much a finger can bleed. I called Justin and told him to come home now L needed stitches. Unfortunately I was right. Justin was glad to perform his surgical skills. After the numbing shots, L feel asleep and didn't wake up through all the stitching. We were blessed. After 2 layers of stitching and placing a bandaid now it is just wait and see. I hope this isn't going to start a pattern or increase the frequency. Not even nine months old....stitches already.

ahhhh L is mobile

okay I thought it was supposed to come on gradually not overnight!!! Seriously. Sunday L decided at church to crawl over to our friends, not army man crawl but up on all fours. Monday he was going from room to room and then Tuesday he was pulling up on furniture and standing!!!! I don't recall having to go through these stages so quickly. Right now he has pulled himself up on the chair I am sitting on a patting me saying "Mom". Oh that is the other thing he did the da-da-da-da babble but skipped the whole ma-ma-ma and went straight for "MOM". Justin heard it and I have it on video too. He looks right at me and says "MOM". Last night he was up with Justin and he had just woken up and he looked around and said "Mom" trying to find me. Yep he loves me!So now I am trying to baby-proof everything again. I don't have a gate yet so hopefully he will give me a little more time before he goes for the stairs. I am grateful for the johnny jump up and the ExerSaucer. It gives me a few spare moments to get the legos and other hazards off the floor. It is a little more tricky with older kids who are allowed to play with those things.

end of soccer season

Well if I could have video from the first game A played to the way he played today....it wouldn't even seem to be the same kid. As some of you have heard me say, at times it was painful to watch him play as he was just there to run and socialize with the kids. At times he would not be aware of the game that was going on around him. Well I think it has finally sunk in. I was so proud of him today. He passed the ball and set up several people to shoot a goal, and they were successful. A got a trophy (like everyone else on the team). I think A just plays to get a trophy. Thank goodness all who participate get one. His coach said "This player is the most confident, will take a tumble and get right back up. He is the toughest and scrappiest kid on the team." And then called A up. I think it summed it right up. He just played hard and ran and ran and ran and followed that ball no matter what.

Meet Mr. "Botato Bug"

M's Bug: "It's a Botato Bug. This is a mean Botato bug. It bites you. It eats people and it eats the stuff that you leave outside that people eat. It has a pincher mouth. He only has eyes, ears, and hair; that's it. Botato bugs always fly. He has one, two, three, four wings."

In preschool they have been studying bugs. They created their bug rocks with paint and then they dictated to the teachers all of the information about their bugs including the type of bug, where it lives and what it eats. M's teacher told me about how she sounded out "bb-O-tay-to" it starts with a B. She wouldn't hear of it starting with a P because she sounded it out.

Also if you notice M's piggytails, well they are her own creation. She learned how to put elastics in her own hair. I am so impressed. That was the new ability she came home with today.

8 months old

Up on all fours!
Practicing his yoga plank position. He is a master!

Silly slap happy grin with reminants of breakfast (peaches and oatmeal) Do you think he needs a trim around the ears? the hair is looking a little silly these days.

Aunt Natalie

Well thank goodness for Aunts! They ROCK! In fact I couldn't get even a hi or I missed you while you were away from my kids. That is when you know they were well taken care (spoiled :) ). It tickled me to see how M just clung onto Aunt Natty! She needed that extra attention and fussing over. Besides M is Aunt Natty long lost twin, so many of their mannerisms are the same.

We were so glad to get Aunt Natty here. It wasn't the easiest thing. Her flights were canceled, we still had to fly out and we were leaving the two older kids, who would watch them? what if Natalie couldn't get here at all , than what? This was supposed to be easy this time. We couldn't get a flight in until about 7 hours after ours was scheduled to take off. So a HUGE THANK YOU to all of my friends who really pulled through for me and had me covered. Oh the story doesn't end there... Natalie had never been here before we were supposed to have a day to orient her to our place and where the kids needed to be. KUDOS to mapquest! We dropped our kids off at our friends and then took two cars to the airport one in long-term parking the other in short-term parking to leave for Natalie to take back home. Our flight was delayed and then delayed again for another hour and a half. I had tried earlier to change my flight to fly out the following morning but it was going to cost $1200, ouch!!! So after the delay and not wanting to get stuck at the airport far away from our comfy bed, they let us reschedule until the morning. YEAH! So after paying for babysitting and airport parking fees we are feeling so rich! But hey I got to pick up Natalie and take her on a midnight driving tour of all the places she needed to be that day. Justin, L and I then headed to the airport too early in the morning, to arrive at the ticket counter and no reservation for us.....baffling, as Justin had received a confirmation number from the agent who helped us the following night. FULL FLIGHT I overheard them say.... Justin and I were wondering if we would ever get to go to this interview. Phew they found us some seats, printed out boarding passes and we were heading through security with only 30 minutes before the plane was scheduled to take off. Luckily security was very effiecent. We checked our boarding passes and there were no seats listed...AHH were we on stand by? So I was waiting in line at the desk by the gate. Then I saw a familiar face, the woman who helped us at the ticket counter. She had ran all the way to the gate to give us the boarding passes with our seats on it. I was completely shocked. She didn't have to do that! Amazing service (I will be writing the company to let them know!) Then she scanned us in and we walked in to the gate on red carpet (she helped us bypass the line of other passengers waiting to get on the plane) And we were on our way! We had to hit the ground running but we had a great interview and they offered Justin the job.... Now it is decision time... I can't believe it is here, after 2 years of undergrad, 4 years of medical school, 4 years of residency (1 more to go), 10 years of marriage we will actually have a REAL job!

the eve of our Ten year anniversary

I have many things to get caught up on but I just had to post some pictures I stumbled across while searching for some others. It is amazing to think of how much we have accomplished and one great way to illustrate is our kids. So enjoy! Here are pics of the kids all about the same age.

SURPRISE!!!

You will never believe what my husband surprised me with...an early 10 year anniversary present! I WENT TO PHANTOM OF THE OPERA on BROADWAY! I just had to "shout" it out as loud as I could. It is a dream come true.