Easter Party

So, we stay at home mommies put together an Easter Party for the little kids. I got everyone dressed and knew that they wouldn't stay that way for very long so I tried taking some pictures before we left to go to the party. I got a few keepers. :)

The Easter Party was "hoppin". Heh, heh

The 3 sweeties waiting for their sweets.

One more sweetie.

Tryin on the bunny ears...still not too cool yet...and I'm so glad! :)

Will, the birthday boy! One year old today! Happy Birthday, Will!!!

Michelle and Ava Jane

Bennett thought it was so funny everytime I tried to get him to put on the ears.

Kaden is the big brother Bennett will never have. He really takes good care of him.

Reagan giving Allison her classic strangle hug.

All the kiddos...except for Kaden cause he was in the boys room.

The babies...minus Will Happy Easter, Everyone!

Happy Birthday Bennett

If you don't know our story, here it is. Our son, Bennett was born with a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. He had a hole in his heart and several other things wrong. We were told that if he didn't have surgery as an infant then he would eventually turn blue and suffocate. I know that sounds horrible but it was true and that's what we were afraid of happening the first 4 months of his little life. He had open heart surgery when he was 4 months old and came home from the hospital 6 nights later. Praise God! When his first birthday got closer and closer we learned that the It's My Heart CHD Walk was taking place...on his birthday! So, of course, we got the whole family together and a couple of friends and walked in honor of our precious baby that made it to a year old. Happy Birthday, Bennett!!! We love you and our so grateful for you everyday! Some of the family beginning the 2 mile walk. It was so touching to see so many people there for these little kids. Lane ran 3 more laps than everyone else! He loves his cousin! :)

Everett and his mommy, Jenny, drove all the way from Oklahoma to participate and help us celebrate.

Our birthday boy!

The mommy, Mimi, and Aunt Lisha

Reagan was showing off her dancing skills all morning!

Trey and Lane take good care of Bennett. They are so good at entertaining him!

Reagan had fun riding on Uncle Josh's shoulders. And she loves her Sammi!

All tuckered out...

More Birthday

Our little family of four Go Team Bennett!!!

After the walk we came back and partied!

Bennett was very polite adn read the cards first before he opened the gifts.

Put my ragtop down so my hair can blow

I love this picture of all 3 girls wanting to help blow out his candle.

First taste of the cake...Mmm...I think he likes it.

Look Trey...I have messy fingers!

Daddy trying to help him eat his ice cream.

Just help yourself!

buy me some peanuts and cracker jack...and popcorn

Did you know Bennett has 3 mommies these days? Reagan and Halle love helping take care of him. Bennett's favorite thing is for the girls to hold him and spin around in the rocking chair.

The boy just learned to crawl 6 weeks ago and he's already climbing stairs at Aunt Lisha's house and on top of the trampoline! This is after he already found his way up there.

Our favorite little pitcher! We got to watch Lane pitch his baseball game last Saturday.

Bennett loves his Aunt Lisha.

All the guys watching the ball game.

Lane on first base. Go, Laner!

Trey is so sweet to Reagan. He shared his cotton candy and let her sit in his chair with him...And even let her give him a kiss! She adores her cousins.

Movie Day! All 4 kiddos sitting together waiting for popcorn. Bennett couldn't eat popcorn so we just put some toys in his bucket instead.

Spring has sprung

We are really enjoying the warm weather around here! We finally got a new camera so I can start posting pictures of my cute kids again! These are just us playing in the backyard. They will swing and swing and swing. We lead an exciting life, let me tell ya!

Our friends, Kaden and Halle...2 of Reagan and Bennett's favorite people.

Reagan's first kite. She did pretty good for a while. Then she let go and it ended up in the neighbor's yard.
Bennett puts everything in his mouth! Even dirt.

One of their favorite things is for their daddy to throw them in the air.
Goofy Mom!

Woke up this beautiful Saturday morning at 6am to 2 starving children with cute little bedheads. Tim tried desperately to stay asleep while Reagan played peek-a-boo in the sheets...squeeling everytime she came up. Bennett's sweet "good morning mommy smile" when I picked him up from his crib. Powdered donuts and chocolate milk. A nice long shower where I actually had time to shave my legs! All because my wonderful husband watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with the kids...yes, our 11 month old watches tv. Saturday mornings are so much different for me and Tim these days but we wouldn't trade them for anything.

A thought came to me this afternoon during naptime. I plopped down on the bed for a minute to check my email. After a run to target, lunch out, laundry, dishes, picking up toys, I was pretty tired. I thought, "I can't wait for the day when I can say, 'I think I'll go get a pedicure.'" It's just not that easy right now to grab my keys and walk out of the house...not without actually planning something like that in advance. But do I really wish for that day?

Bennett turns a year old in 3 weeks. The days when my kids still want to snuggle with me are flying by. I read another mother's blog the other day. She was at Kroger with her 4 out of control kids. The very moment that she wanted to crawl under the shopping basket, an elderly woman approached her and said, "I would give anything to trade places with you." I may be that elderly lady one day wishing for these precious days back.

So, no matter how loud my 2 year old cries because she doesn't want me to mix her chocolate milk with white milk....Or how fast my 11 month old can crawl over to the ficus tree and grab a fistful of dirt out of the pot...or how high the pile of laundry can still grow after washing clothes all day...I still want to remember to be thankful for these priceless days. Days of flying kites, splashing in the tub, picnic lunches, ice cream cones, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and swingsets won't last forever.

My friend the Lysol can!

This is the story of why I haven't blogged in quite a while. It won't hurt my feelings if you decide to skim or speed read because when I tell a story I usually include all the details...even the boring, unnecessary ones.
Okay, I'm not complaining because things could've been a whole lot worse but my kids have literally been sick since Christmas. We were all sick. Tim and I had a box of Kleenex sitting next to us Christmas morning while the kids opened their presents. It started with just colds and coughs...that never went away! So, we took them both into the doctor at the end of December and got some antibiotics, certain that that would take care of whatever sinus infection they both had. 10 days of medicine went by and they were still sick. We went BACK to the doctor and got MORE medicine. By January 23rd I was able to go a whole day without wiping a nose! However, the day of our last dose of cefdinir was the same day of our very first play group...that I was hosting. There were about 15 kids at our house and Reagan decided to get a fever. Not just a mild fever...it kept going up the longer the day went by. I had her quarantined in my bedroom watching TV until everyone went home. We took her to the doctor a 3rd time the next morning and she tested positive for flu type A. Yes, we all had our flu shots but for apparently the wrong strand. We started giving her Tamiflu and she got better 24 hours later...still runny nose and coughing...but didn't even act sick.
2 days later Bennett started running a fever, coughing, runny nose. So we started giving him the Tamiflu that the doc had prescribed for him in case he got the flu. Poor baby threw up for more than 2 days straight! He was miserable. Meanwhile, I start feeling like I'm getting a fever. So, I'm taking Tylenol and cleaning up puke and trying to sleep with a sick baby sleeping in between us. We were scared to death that he was going to end up in the hospital because of dehydration and I'm feeling like I got hit by a truck. The next morning Tim took Bennett into the doctor the 3rd day after he started feeling bad and my mom took me to my doctor. The roads were super icey but we all made it. Bennett tested negative for the flu and positive for...wait for it...RSV!!! The doctor was sure that he wasn't dehydrated yet and pretty sure that the Tamiflu was causing the puking. But you can't treat RSV with anything and the breathing treatments they did in the dr office didn't help. So, she just sent us on our way with nothing but the classic dr advice: "lots of liquids and rest". We stocked up on Pedialyte and nursed Bennett back to health.

I tested negative for strep and the flu so they gave me 2 shots. One in each hip. A steroid and an antibiotic. And 10 days of Cefdinir for me too...our family is very familiar with that drug now. I thought I would feel like super mommy after all of that but I still felt like poo. Bennett was feeling much better but the next night my fever got up to 102 point something and I won't embarrass myself by telling much about the crazy painful night I had (I almost had Tim take me to the ER. I couldn't breathe and my stomach hurt worse than labor pains...that I later found out was my colon freaking out). So, the next day Tim took Bennett in for a follow up and my mom took me back to the doctor. I tested postive for...wait for it...THE FLU! Too late to take Tamiflu but I got lots of goodies...an inhaler, some tiny pills for my cough, and stocked up on Musinex. Our kitchen sink seriously looked like a drug store. Well, I started feeling better and Reagan started coughing again. She was wheezing and couldn't finish a sentence without stopping to take a breath. We did a couple of breathing treatments at home but they didn't help. She coughed ALL NIGHT LONG. So, we took her into the doctor for the 3rd time. The pulse ox was reading 94 so the dr told us to go home and do breathing treatments every 2 hours and he put her on a Zpack. Let me just mention that Albuterol makes my daughter a nutty emotional basketcase. One minute she was running laps around the couch and the next minute she's bursting into tears about something as trivial as her poptart breaking in half...isn't it supposed to break the minute you take a bite? It was bedtime and she kept saying "I need to play! I need to play!" 2 days later we took her back to the dr and the pulse ox was reading even lower...low 90s. We were at the pediatrician's office for 2 and half hours that day trying to help her breathe and stop coughing. They eventually sent us to Children's hospital in Plano. They did tests and we found out she had pneumonia. They admitted her and put her on oxygen. Since this story is already way too long I won't go into as much detail. But I'll give you some...SHE HATED THE CANULA. They put it in that first evening. The poor girl did not stop crying until 12:30am. And even after that she woke up every half hour crying for me take it out. I just slept in the hospital bed with her and hugged her and told her I loved her. It was one of the worst nights of our lives. The next couple of days got better. She was exhausted from not getting any sleep at home from the coughing and then not getting any sleep at the hospital cause they came in and bugged her with vital checks, breathing treatments, or medicine every 20 minutes. After everything, we ended up staying in the hospital 3 nights and were kissing the carpet when we walked in our house. And Tim NEVER GOT SICK! Praise God for giving me a husband that took such good care of us. And My mom was such a blessing to have. She took care of Bennett when Tim and I were both at the hospital with Reagan. We are so thankful for all our friends and family praying for us and were very encouraged by all the phonecalls and emails and facebook posts. WE ARE SO THANKFUL FOR HEALTHY CHILDREN. And I'm ready for flu season to be over and spring to get here quick. I have lysoled every inch of my house and washed rugs and sheets and blankets and stuffed animals and anything else I thought I could stick in the washer. I think we can finally get back to normal and enjoy life!

Bring it on 2011

New Year's Day I sat down and made a timeline of all the big things the Allen family has been through and accomplished this year. That night Tim and I sat down to look at it and we decided that we're still recovering from 2010! The biggies were: selling our house, learning our unborn baby has a heart defect, moving to an apartment, quiting my job, Bennett being born, Bennett's open heart surgery, building our new house and moving in, and the year ending with Timmy's aunt passing away. Not to mention the weekly doctor's appts and major family drama that my family would not appreciate me posting. But the wonderful thing is after all of that Tim and I are still here and the Lord helped us through it all. We made it through 2010 so I know we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! We have 2 beautiful healthy kids, a great house, and Tim's aunt accepted Christ just months before going home. So, all I can say is BRING IT ON 2011!

Sorry...no pictures

Haven't posted in a while because my favorite thing to post is pictures and our camera broke right before Christmas. Still trying to pick out the perfect camera...so I will post new pics soon. But just wanted to share something I wrote right before Christmas. One morning my kiddos we're sleeping late (past 7am) and I had some extra me-time. I could add more to the list now that a few weeks have gone by since I wrote it!

MOMMY QUESTIONS:
Questions I’ve had to ask in the past 6 weeks…as a result of mommyhood.
1. When was the last time we ate corn?! Oh, yeah…a couple of weeks ago. The last time I swept this good under the kitchen table.
2. Which sweatpants should I wear today? The blue ones, the gray ones, or the other gray ones?
3. Do you want me to help you clean that up?
(after knocking over a jewelry display in Brighton with the double stroller)
4. How do I explain to my 2 year old that it’s not such a good idea to take off her panties and then ride around the house on her stick horse?
5. Did I brush my teeth today?
(usually asked a few times a week, unfortunately)
6. How did that get there?!
(referring to many items recently…tortellini in shoes, dirty socks wadded up under the Christmas tree, Mr. Lamb inside the stepstool, milk cups in various hiding places…those being the least fun to find)
7. Do you need to potty? Do have to go tee tee? Do you have to poop? Where did you tee tee? Can you show me the spot so I can clean it up?
8. Can you come and play today?
(a question to other mommies that I haven’t asked since I was 8)
9. Should I eat the rest of that donut hole…it looks like she only ate on one side of it?
10. What’s the Mullis’ house number again?!
(after knocking on the WRONG door…with a baby gift and a sack of food in my hand)
11. Should I ask that man to hold my baby while I save my daughter up at the top of the ChickFilA tunnel? Or should I ask HIM to go get my crying child from the VERY TOP?
12. Did anyone see me pick up that paci off the ground and stick it back in my baby’s mouth?
13. Did anyone see me wipe his nose with the bottom of my shirt?
14. Did anyone just see me chase my laughing child up and down the library aisles…and hear my angry loud whisper “DO YOU WANT A SPANKING?!”
15. Is it naptime yet???!!!
16. Do I need to apologize for losing my patience just then?
17. How does my daughter forgive me and forget so easily?
18. Does she notice when I get frustrated with silly things too?
19. How do I teach my kids to be kind even when they don’t want to be?
20. Do I talk to my little girl enough about Jesus?
21. Is Christmas going to be more about Santa and the presents or about Christ’s birthday for her?