Christmas Day 2012

We had a beautiful white Christmas!  It was a great day to celebrate Jesus' birth with our family.  After a pretty relaxed morning, we headed to Church, came back home, and then the boys' cousins came over to have a little celebration!  We opened presents and played on of our new boardgames!  Our family LOVES boardgames and I think between all of us we got 7 new games.  Our new favorite is called Dicecapades.  If you love games, this is a must have.  (We have already played it 4 or 5 times)  So FUN!!  The rest of the night we just relaxed...a very good Christmas!

The boys after Church...they were so excited for freshly fallen snow on Christmas!

It's a lot easier to get a group picture of all the kids when you have presents to bribe them with!!!

Me and my handsome boys!

Big Changes

This past summer we have made some pretty big changes. The boys and I are now living in Colorado! Vinny isn't here yet, but will join us as soon as he can.

We had a very busy and fun summer...saying good bye to our Texas friends and doing our last few Texas adventures. And once we made it to Colorado we hit the ground running. Tucker played a season of baseball, we went camping a couple of times, went on many hikes, went fishing, saw movies, went to playgrounds and splash pads, and spent lots and lots of time with our Colorado Family!

They big boys are going to school at the school my mom works at (which also happens to be my old elementary school..oh the memories..lol!). Things are finally starting to slow down just a little and I thought I would try to update the blog. I will do my best to play catch up of our summer fun and keep this thing better updated.

A new furry family member!

Well, we came home from San Antonio with a new furry family member. The dog, Zeus, was Vinny's cousins and they had had him since he was a puppy because the dog's dad is Vinny's other cousin dog. I was a little worried at first because Zeus is a much bigger dog than I am used to and we Ty is still really small. Tucker and Trey were thrilled about the idea of having a 'big' dog in the house. After playing with him in the backyard and walking him around on a leash..we decided he seemed like a pretty good dog, so we loaded him up in the suburban and brought him home.

Well, as it turns out, he is not just a good dog, but a great dog! Ty absolutely LOVES Zeus and Zeus does such a great job with Ty. Ty can climb all over him, poke him, try to ride him, and Ty has even taken food right out of Zeus's mouth and Zeus just lays there. If he does get tired of Ty, he gets up, walks away, and goes lays down in his bed. Tucker loves having Zeus around and they play out in the backyard together..running around together. Trey is more indifferent about having Zeus around. Vinny LOVES having a big dog.

Zeus is a pretty big dog, but he is deathly afraid of our cat Mocha and Mocha is not one bit afraid of Zeus. He is a little bit on the lazy side, but he doesn't jump up on us or on the furniture and he doesn't bark all that much either. He licks a LOT..but I will take licking over jumping and barking any day! He is a great addition to our family!

You might wonder why I haven't mentioned anything about how Zeus is doing with our other dog Terry...Well, we didn't have any problems with the two of them and they were getting along great, but sadly the Saturday after Thanksgiving Terry got out of our backyard and was hit by a car right on our main street in the community and she didn't make it. We are all really sad about this (especially me because she was definitely MY dog...), but at least we still have Zeus...if we didn't this would have been a lot harder for the boys to handle.

R-I-P

I have been avoiding this post because I know I will be crying by the time I'm done writing, but it is something I need to do.

Vinny's dad, Tony, was fighting his battle with ALL (the leukemia he was diagnosed with). He came home to our house from the hospital was feeling pretty good, but after about a week, he took a turn for the worse and ended up having to go back to the hospital earlier than planned. He was in full remission when he left the hospital, but by the time he got back, less than 3 weeks later, it was back and was even worse than before. His body was no longer responding to the treatment. After doing all there was to do, the doctor told us they were out of options. His conditioned rapidly declined and he was moved to hospice. After a brief stay in the hospice, he passed in peace last Saturday night. We learned in the end that the last time he was admitted to the hospital, he no longer had ALL, he actually had Burkitts Lymphoma(a non-hodgkin's lymphomas) or Burkitts Leukemia, one of the most aggressive types of cancers.

We are all sad and grieving his passing, but we take comfort in knowing that Tony is now in a better place.

Tony, we will always love you and we will miss you, but you will always be held in a special place in our hearts.

They say "bad things come in 3"

Or so that is the saying I've heard before...and let's hope that's true because I have had my 3...and I'm done with it....(it being the bad things)....

my 3 things..

......Vinny's dad getting diagnosed with leukemia (he is still in the hospital getting treatments and is looking like it is going pretty well)...

....my best friend (whom I consider my sister), her husband (who I consider a brother) is deploying to Afghanistan in the near future...

....and today my cat died....she had been a little off lately and today she was completely out of it, so I took her to the vet this afternoon and they said they would need to do exploratory surgery on her to see what was going on and once inside there was nothing they could do for her, as her organs weren't working properly....I haven't yet told the boys...I know they are going to be so upset......

So again I am asking for some more prayers...for Grandpa T, my best friend's little family, and us too.

Prayers needed please.

Last Friday we found out Vinny's dad was in the hospital and after running some tests they determined he has leukemia (adult lymphatic leukemia aka ALL). He is still in the hospital and they are doing everything they can to fight this. Please pray for him and the rest of our family in this difficult time.

Ty's Story!

Well, I finally have a few minutes to actually do something on here besides post pictures. On Wednesday (11/11/09) I was scheduled to have a c-section at 7:30pm. My doctor told me to arrive around 5pm, but with us running a little bit behind and it being rush hour, it took us a little longer to get there and we arrived around 5:20 and when we got there the nurse told me my doctor was already ready and wants to start the c-section at 6pm...so we rushed through everything(which was actually kind of nice because it didn't leave me much time to think about what is to come in the operating room) and she started at 6:05...then at 6:34pm Ty Nolan was born! He was 7 pounds 13 ounces and 20 inches long and absolutely perfect :D It was a little weird having him in the evening, since Tucker was born in the morning and Trey was born mid-afternoon, but in a way it was kind of nice, because with my recovery time and Ty having to be in the nursery so much anyways for all of the assessments and such, they would just bring him in to be fed and I actually got some sleep...not really good sleep, but at least it was something.

Thursday morning, I was up out of bed right away and felt pretty good for it only being a little over 12 hours after surgery. I was pretty motivated to get up and move around because I was hoping that would get me out of the hospital sooner rather than later. Vinny went home to get the boys and his mom and they came and met Ty for the first time! It was funny when the boys came in the room, they looked at me sitting in the bed and headed straight for the little couch in the room. Trey gave me this look...I can't quite explain it, but he really wasn't sure about me being in that bed. But they both came over and gave me kisses. It was good to see them...the only time I am really away from them is when they are at school, so this seemed like a long time and I really did miss them. The boys were very excited to meet their brother and were so sweet to Ty, giving him hugs and kisses and loving all over him! For me it was so amazing how much they love Ty and how excited they are he is here. It is so different from when I had Trey, Tucker really didn't have a clue what was going on. The boys didn't really last too long at the hospital...and who could really blame them....so Vinny took them home. My friends Chanel and Kim came to meet Ty. It was fun to have them visit and Kim even changed a diaper! They were so sweet and brought me a plant and some fun stuff for the boys to keep them busy at the hospital! Later that evening my friend Crystal came to meet Ty also and brought Ty an adorable outfit and a cute little stuffed dog. Thank you guys for visiting...It was nice to have some company and I love you girls! Speaking of friends...thank you to all of you who congratulated us and sent us your love....we really appreciate all of you and your thoughts and prayers!

Friday morning, my doctor came in the room early and checked up on things and told me we were going home sometime that day! We were definitely excited and the day seemed to drag on...and we finally got home that evening...it was a pretty good stay at the hospital....I had a c-section and was home in just about 48 hours...it was awesome! The boys were so excited we were home! They played with Ty and held him. Trey put Ty's pacifier in his mouth and was so excited he got to "help" Ty...he yelled "I did it, did you see, I put it in his mouth, he's sucking it!!!" I love it, Ty will definitely be very loved!!!

Since we have been home, it has actually been pretty easy. They boys are still very excited and very helpful! They are always checking on him and asking to hold him and giving him lots of love and kisses. Our dog Terry is very alert and every time Ty whines or cries she is pacing back and forth between me or Vinny and Ty whining herself, just to make sure we know there is something going on with Ty. Our cats really don't seem to care what so ever. Ty is a very good eater and a very good sleeper....overall he is a really good baby! I just love him so much and we are all so happy he is finally here!!!

Visiting Grandma and Grampa T.

This past weekend we drove over to see Vinny's parents. They just bought an acre of property and a new house to go on it! They moved in a few days ago and aren't even quite unpacked yet, but we couldn't wait any longer to go visit. The house is really cute and I can't wait to see it once it is fully unpacked and decorated! Vinny brought along his yard stuff and helped Vinny's dad with some much needed yard work..1 acre is a lot of work especially when it is pretty raw/natural land. I love it because it reminds me of home...lots of shrubby trees, kind of dry rocky land... It really is nice...it's "country" but I like country! Now Vinny is wishing instead of buying this house when we did, that we should have bought something on land instead. I told him that we will eventually get some land for ourselves...which we will as soon as the housing market goes back up and we can sell our house and actually make something off of it. Anyways, the boys had fun helping out the men doing yard work, but man was it hot so they all took lots of breaks inside. My camera was acting up, so I didn't get very many pictures..and the few I did get didn't turn out the greatest...but I know we will be spending a lot of time at his parents house and there will be plenty of more picture oppertunities. The only bad part of the visit is that Vinny's mom had to go to the hospital..she wasn't feeling good and it turns out she has an intestional infection and is now having to spend a week in the hospital...so please pray for a quick and safe recovery for her.


The boys out in the "yard"


The huge banana spider Vinny found while doing yard work...he said when he and his brother were younger they used to catch these spiders...YUCK!


Trey passed out on the floor...he worked hard! Actually all of the guys, except for Tucker, fell asleep on the floor at one point or another this weekend.

Ugh....

so I can't believe July is more than way done and I have only blogged once.....crazy.....we have been busy, but today I have some free time, so I get on the computer to upload some pictures and do some updating on here and the little memory card reader thing is not working...and since that is all I have been using to put my pictures on the computer for what seems like forever now, I have no idea where my usb cord for the camera is..and I just really don't feel like looking for it right now...so....

I'll just just make "list" on here that way when I get the pictures on the computer, I already know where to start.
*4th of July was a lot of fun...despite the dry weather we set off fireworks anyways!
*Vinny is still off so we have been busy doing stuff around the house...like...
**building a shed out back
**painting
**painting
**and more painting (the painting took forever, but it was definitely worth it! It really looks nice)
*then just a bunch of other odds and ends around the house
*I bought a sewing machine finally...I've been wanting one forever and I finally got one...but it is not going as smoothly as I thought it would...

There is some other stuff, but I just don't really remember right now....so when I think of it I will post it.

Anyways, on a happy note, we finally got some rain. Since the beginning of June the weather has been HOT...highs in the 100s with the heat index 10-15 degrees higher. A couple of weeks ago the weather man said we were supposed to get rain the entire week. We got rain once...about 15 minutes of a very light shower..and the rain brought the extra humidity, so it was down right nasty outside. But the other day we had a Down Pour!! It was so nice and even brought the temperature down to the lower 90s! It has still been hot here, but it feels better than it did before.

Well, I'm off to look for my usb cord....I think I know where it is...but it's just so much easier using the card reader.....stupid computer! Hopefully pictures will be up on here soon!

IT'S A............

BOY!!

I had my ultrasound last week sometime and it's another little boy! I was sad when she told me....I really thought it was a girl and I really wanted a girl, but Vinny did make me feel better because he said he would keep having babies with me until we got our girl :P So that made me smile...but anyways....I am definitely excited about the new little guy....we are thinking we are going to stich with tradition and give him the initials TNT also....and the name we came up with that we both like is Ty Nolan. It's not 100% sure yet, but as of now we are pretty sure that is what we are going with. I liked Tycen, but Vinny said no because all he can think about is Tyson Chicken, but we both like Ty..but nothing is set in stone until we actually see him.

Back to the ultrasound...I had a Perinatologist do my ultrasound and she said everything looked good...good heartbeat, measurements we right on for my stuff and baby stuff...so that is good, but I will get the full report from my doctor soon. They only gave me one picture and it is not a good one....it's kind of a face/profile shot...his head was facing my back crammed up under my rib cage so it was hard to get a good shot. I was pretty bummed about that because her ultrasound machine had the 4-D thing and she was trying to get a picture like that and no matter what she did to my belly, he would just look up for a quick second, so we saw him, but we didn't get a picture of it. Oh and we took the boys to the ultrasound and they were kind of confused about it while it was happening, but they seemed to definitely be interested in it. Tucker is very excited about seeing the baby....he carried the picture out of the office and he is constantly looking at the picture. It was funny because we were all watching something on tv and something came on about an ultrasound and both boys were said hey we went there and were talking about how that is an ultrasound...Trey was cute and went on to ask if that was our baby!

We have started shopping a little bit (we gave away pretty much everything we had from Tucker and Trey except a swing and a pack 'n play)...I am having the hardest time trying to find stuff like bedding and such.....I am just being too picky...I don't want a theme...like transportation or sports or anything like that...and finding boy stuff in the colors I want without a theme like that is proving to be a challenge...but I'm sure I'll find something that works for me. We did get some cute little clothes, the front pack I really wanted, and bouncy seat...so we have some more shopping to do, but that is fine by me...I'm having fun with it! It's fun getting to take my time and really search for the stuff I really want. I am addicted to Etsy.com (it is a website where people can sell handmade everything and they have some amazing stuff on there) and amazon.com(they have the best deals)!

As for me I am doing good(I will be 22 weeks on Tuesday). Tired, but good. With Vinny being off he has given me plenty of opportunities to sleep in and take some nice naps. There have been a few times when I fall asleep in the afternoon and he wakes me up around dinner time and dinner is all ready set up on the table waiting for me to come and eat! He's so good to me!!! I love it!! It is still unbelievably hot here...highs right around 100 with a heat index of 10-15 degrees higher. It is HORRIBLE....it just wears me out and makes me nauseous...

This was taken at 20 weeks..so almost 2 weeks ago...sorry I'm slow we have been busy since Vinny has been off.