Christmas is coming! Small Tree!

So I'm out of order like usual...but oh well as long as I'm getting things on here..that's all that matters right.

When we came home from El Paso Vinny surprised us with 2 'real' Christmas trees. He bought a HUGE tree, so the guy threw in a smaller tree for free. We put the smaller tree in the entry way and let Tucker and Trey decorate it themselves. They were pretty excited about it and were very proud of the finished product.

PJ photo shoot!

Because of the craziness of our lives and then Ty breaking out in hives from his allergic reaction, we didn't get around to take family photos like we had planned. So for our Christmas cards (which are still waiting to be addressed) I decided to put the boys in their cute Christmas PJs. This is the one time during the year that I want the boys in matching outfits. I am usually against this because Tucker and Trey are NOT twins, but people have been asking us that since Trey was about a year..so it really bugs me for some reason. But anyways I got some good shots. The big boys asked to take a picture of just the 2 of them...they are really missing each other lately. Trey the other day said, "I wish Tucker didn't go to school all day because I miss playing with him." Made me sad for Trey, but happy because sometimes I wonder if they really do love each other.

This isn't a good one of Ty with his PJs, but it does show how good his rash is looking!

I see SPOTS!!!!!!

My poor baby Ty...at his 12 month the doctor noticed Ty had a double ear infection. So she prescribed him Amoxicillin, he was supposed to take it for 10 days and on day 9, he woke up with pimply little spots all over his face, that moved down to cover his entire body. It wasn't too bad and we thought it was because he was laying all over the dog the night before without any clothes on...but the morning after the spots showed up, he woke up and his face was on fire....So I took him to the doctor that morning and she told me it was most likely a reaction to the amoxicillin(she can't tell 100% without testing him and she didn't want to put him through that when all the signs point to the amox..) and the rash could last up to 2 weeks...so I'm thinking great..he is going to look so good in all our upcoming Christmas pictures...Thankfully, the rash is already fading and it is just a light pimply rash.

Santa Clause!!

Last weekend we headed over to the Bass Pro Shop to visit Santa! The big boys, of course, were ecstatic about it...I though Ty was going to flip out for sure, but much to my and Vinny's surprise, he didn't. Vinny set him down on Santa's lap and he just looked at Santa, then the Elf jingled a bell to get him to look at the camera, and he did..and he just sat there! Tucker asked Santa for a Nerf Gun and Trey asked for the Trio Batcave..which are the 2 things they have been asking for since we started talking about Christmas. So I have a feeling they are going to be pretty satisfied Christmas Morning :P

Celebrating Ty's birthday...again.....

Since it was still Ty's birthday month, I wanted to celebrate with my parents and Ashlie. I also have a friend Jessica, who's husband is also stationed in El Paso, and she and her son were able to come over to celebrate too! It was great to see them again!!

Thanksgiving!

What an adventure Thanksgiving was...My mom flew down the Sunday before Thanksgiving and then on Wednesday she, the boys, and I drove over to El Paso to visit my best friend Ashlie. (Vinny wasn't able to come because he was supposed to be going on a job..but he turned out not to have to work...but he had a free couple of days at home alone...) The boys did great on the 11 hour drive and we had a great time over in El Paso. It was a ton of fun, but it did feel incomplete without Vinny and her husband Andy, who is in the Army and overseas right now. I'm so thankful that I have been blessed with such a wonderful family!!

Ty -- 1 year old

I did Ty's 1st Birthday post awhile back, but I haven't been able to do his monthly update yet...one reason is because I was waiting to get his stats from the doctor appointment, which they were booked 2 weeks out and I couldn't get him seen until the 30th (usually I can get in within a couple of days..) Anyways, he is 22lbs 6.5ozs and is almost 31 inches tall. He was being such a flirt with the doctor..he was in a great mood..talking and playing with her, but then she looked in one ear and had to get the wax scooper to get some excess wax out and as soon as she did that he started screaming and it turned out he had a double ear infection (in the inner ear). She couldn't believe he had the infection because he had no fever, no symptoms, and he was in such a great mood...not like a baby with a pretty bad double ear infection. She put him on amoxicillin and he loves it...so hopefully his ears will go back to normal soon.

Ever since Ty started eating food in his high chair we have been working on a couple of signs to communicate with us. "All done" we put both hands up in the air. Then "More" we hit our finger tips together (only when Ty does it he hits his finger tips to his open palm). Right around his birthday he finally started doing all done and now within the past few days he has started doing more. It is so cute and he is so proud of himself because we all make such a big deal about it, so he usually claps after he does his sign! Now we are going to try to teach him a few more signs to communicate with us even more.



Ty is into EVERYTHING and he is so curious. He is climbing onto or into everything. Currently one of his favorite things to do is put things on his head, especially the strainers and buckets. He really loves the strainers for some reason...the red one is actually in his toy box right now because he is obsessed with it. He is always going into the pantry looking for something to eat and there has been a couple of times where the big boys don't put the cereal away the right way and Ty gets a hold of the bag...then he shakes...this particular time is was fruity pebbles. He also loves to eat bread too. There is one picture I haven't gotten yet because it stresses me out every time I catch him there. In the big boys bathroom we have a double step stool and he climbs up there and stands up on the top and tries to play in the the sink. He thinks he is so cool to be up there, but it is so dangerous. He also loves to sit in the big boys chairs and look at books, but I never get a good shot of him sitting there. He loves to dance and he is quite the talker. He is saying a lot..some of it is definitely words. like mom, dad, ball, dog (without the 'g' on the end), and he says baa for brother...when he yells at his brothers (when the boys play outside, he stands at the window looking out yelling "baaa, baaa") and he also says "ma" for more. He is also repeating most sounds, he said gramma after my mom said it. Then today we were at the library from story time and I was talking to one of the grandmoms and I told her Ty's name and about a minute later he said, "I Ty" and I looked at him and I said you are Ty and he said it again...I couldn't believe it! He is getting so smart! He cracks me up because at dinner when we give him his cup he has to put it in the little cup holder!

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.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TY!!!!

One year old already. Gosh he sure did grow fast! Considering everything that happened right before his birthday, I didn't have much time to plan. Luckily I have great friends, who after calling at the last minute were able to come over for a little thrown together party! Ty, Trey, and I did some running around to get some of the stuff for the party. Then we went and got Ty's haircut! Later on after Tucker got home, we celebrated Ty's birthday. It was such a fun party! Ty suprised us all because he really wasn't that interested in his cake. He ate a few bites, played for it a little, but then he pushed the cake off his tray. After that, he smeared the frosting around everywhere...the was a little tired, so he put his head down for a bit. He was covered in blue! We rinsed him off in the sink and once he was all clean, his little cheeks were a bit irritated from the frosting (his skin is sensitive to some things we are finding out...like sun screen and, I guess cake frosting).


Ty eating his birthday breakfast...with his long hair...it grew out a lot since his last hair cut.


The picture on the top right is when he pushed the cake off his tray.

I forgot to put his hat on for cake...he would have just got it dirty anyways! He really was a party animal!

Passed out after a long birthday!!!

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.