I'm thankful for:

I thought today would be the best day to think of some of the things I am thankful for. Since it's 2009, I'll pick 9 things, in random order of course. I asked the boys tonight as we sat down to dinner what they were thankful for and I got....

Tyler - "I'm thankful for my toys".....(what 4 year old wouldn't say that)
Dylan - "I'm thankful for my family"....(ah that is so sweet especially coming from the kid who told his father today that "you woke up in a good mood today")
Cody - "I'm thankful for all of my bakugan and my family"..... (glad the virtual world is before the real world)

Now "my" turn:

1. I am thankful for my family. I have an amazing husband who I have loved for a very long time, 14 years exactly and some might even say longer than that. I have 3 amazing little boys that have taught me so much in their short years on this earth. I have a wonderful mother who is my best friend and teaches me many wisdom's in life. I have the best sister that any person could ask for. She truly is my best friend and I would be lost without her. I have a very heroic brother who I think of every night before I go to bed to make sure he is safe at night as he protects and serves and I only wished I saw him more. My sister and brother have the best families who I love with all my heart. I have a pretty great Dad as well, even though our relationship has been tested over the past 5 years I have faith that I will gain back some of what was lost, or at least I will try. I also can't forget the "in-law" family that without them I wouldn't have my husband.

2. I am thankful for amazing doctors. I had an amazing doctor that helped us conceive the first time. Little did I know, I ended up with another amazing doctor who monitored me very closely and let me give birth to healthy twins. Just when I thought doctor's were done, I found that I would become super close to another set of amazing doctors in Syracuse at the CNY cleft and craniofacial center. Just after them we found an amazing dentist who is doing wonders.

3. I am thankful for another set of family - that is my craniofacial family. I have met the most amazing kids, amazing parents and at times this family might just take a step above my regular family. Some people think what we face with Cody is "fixed" and "done" but they couldn't be more wrong and this family "gets it" and has "been there, done that" and I know I can share anything with them. Thank you AmeriFace!!!!

4. I am thankful I have a great job and work with great people. I've been there for 8 years and in a way this group has also become family. I think I see them more than my own. Every job has the pluses and minus but we make the most of it and enjoy our day.

5. I am thankful for the things we have and what we don't. I really believe that all good things come to those that wait.

6. I am thankful for the Internet. Is that dumb? Without the Internet I couldn't type my thoughts to share with my kids later, I wouldn't be able to connect with old friends, I wouldn't be able to shop and search for items that my local store can't provide.

7. I am thankful for my health and the health of my family. I can take the occasional cold or flu, ear infection, even will take the thyroid problem of Cody and all that he has been through to know that for now, in the end all is OK. I however realize that that can change and I am watching an amazing women put up a great fight and her courage is something I hope one day I have if need be.

8. I am thankful for my friends. As you get older and lives change you do see who your true friends are as they have changed with you.

9. I am thankful......for...........all the things I didn't write. For all the things big and small. For being able to wake up in the morning, watching all the parades with my boys, cook up some pies and green bean casserole (my addition to dinner), load my family in the car and head to my Mom's house where we will sit down and have a great dinner. Laugh, stuff ourselves, wish my brother was there, make a couple jokes all in good light, search the sale flyer's, eat again and come home and sleep like no tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A little behind...

It seems I am a little behind in blogging. I have lots of good intentions to write and update what is new with us. Not so much for all of you that read and follow (thank you for wanting to follow) but for me to have to look back on and enjoy the memories.

I left off about parent - teacher conferences. Still so happy that the boys continue to love school. On Friday, the 13th we received some sad news. Brett's grandma Luckey passed away. She was 95 and really did live a great life. She was a very sweet lady. I remember when I joined their family that she always had a warm hand to lend out to me and always a big hug and kiss each time we saw her. She reminded me so much of my own grandmother that I still miss every day. It was probably that they were a lot a like. Lived in the same small town, were both a farmer's wife, great cooks, made those forever home made items (growing up it was my dolls and clothes and such and Grandma Luckey made my boys each a baby blanket). We last had a nice visit with her over Labor Day when this picture was taken... It now hangs on our wall and will be cherished forever. She will be missed but never forgotten.

Over this past weekend, we took the boys and Karly and Connor to the mall for their pictures with Santa. It is super early and Tanya and I felt guilty even doing it before Thanksgiving. But the time was right and we did beat the lines. So that was nice.

Apparently we didn't get the cropped version of this email to us, I assure you the printed version did come out much better. However, I do need to complain a little about the price of these pictures. For one picture it cost $9. I think that is extremely high! Then to have it emailed to you - they wanted $3 more. CRAZY! I can't imagine how much they make off the holiday season. I do however like our Santa. He looks genuine but he is a hip santa as he was sporting a nice diamond stud in his ear. I am thinking he probably should of removed that for the kids sake but I guess mine didn't see it.

Ah yes, so the Christmas holiday is upon us. I really think we should get Thanksgiving done with first. I have fought the urge to put out any decorations. I haven't even done the outside lights yet. Although I should have as we have had some nice weather. But it's not Christmas without putting lights up in the cold and snow! :) The boys have been compiling their list for Santa and let me just tell you - Santa is still clueless as to what to get. They want "everything"! I just don't feel like they have that "one thing, got to have present" this year. You visit the toy isle with them and they want one of everything. Cody is pretty easy - he wants everything and anything Bakugan. And thankfully that is a popular item this year and shouldn't be to hard to find. Dylan, he wants an air hockey table, boxing gloves (rolling eyes, um NO) and Tyler....well Tyler has come out with that he wants "a boxing ring with bunnies inside".............NO CLUE what that this or where to find it. A boxing ring OK - but seriously I have no idea why he wants that. We don't even watch wrestling! So Santa has some thinking and searching to do.

Today is Connor's 3rd Birthday. So hard to believe he is 3 already. I still remember the day that Karly called me and told me that her mommy was going to have a baby. We all couldn't believe it. After the surprise of Tyler (as he wasn't planned) we never would of thought in a million years that Connor would of come along. So glad he did! He has a great personality and is very wise for his years. I do laugh as he does keep my sister hopping! :) He has a great love for the outdoors as he gets that from his Dad. Tyler and him are best buddies! Connor will do just about anything as long as Tyler has done it or is doing it with him. If Tanya wants him to do something all she has to say is "well Tyler wears big boy underwear" and POOF so does Connor. We call them our blanket boys as they still have a love for their blue blankets. Fleece material on one side and silk on the other. We get to celebrate with him tonight and then Saturday for his party.

Hard to think that Thanksgiving is in 2 days. I am really looking forward to my mom's turkey dinner. She does make the best and I think I should not eat for the next 2 days so I can be sure to hungry for everything. So that won't really happen but it's a thought! Cody had a "bread feast" as school yesterday. The kids made hats and all sat around and sang about 10 jingles of Turkey songs. It was very cute and then we got to feast on all sorts of different types of bread. For Cody this was like heaven (all he was missing was his chips)......he is my bread boy!

Cody's class

Cody's favorite foods!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Today was our very first parent-teacher conferences. They went fantastic. I kind of thought they would as if the boys were having any major problems I would of hoped the teachers would of thought to address that with me sooner. I have to say I do love both of their teachers this year and so far our start to Kindergarten has gone great.

I met with Mrs. Cluck first. She said Cody is an absolutely joy to have in her class. He is a sweet boy, well mannered, keeps her on her toes. He likes to get down to business and concentrates hard on his work. She said that if she does something different from the first day, Cody will remind her that that is not what she did yesterday. She has no concerns and he is meeting or exceeding his grade level. She did say that he doesn't know his middle name. Which he does and she asked him if his mom every called him it when he was in trouble at home and he said "no, she just calls me Cody". Trust me - Cody James gets used often. :) She also said he doesn't know his address. I was surprised on this one as that is one thing we have gone over and it was one thing they learned in pre-school. So we'll work on that. He does know his phone number though and spit that right out to her. He can't "tie" and I will take the blame on that. With 3 boys in the house - I don't have time to "tie" shoes, we buy velcro! :) She laughed and understood. He can count to 49 (only needs to be able to do to 20) and can write numbers up to 10 (only has to do 0-5). She said he really likes to write in all Capital letters but can do lower case when reminded. She wrote he is well liked by everyone and is a happy boy!

Then I met with Mrs. Matyas. We could get write to the task at hand as Mrs. Cluck had already explained forms and such to me. She loves having Dylan in her class and says he is also very polite, well behaved and she tends to use him as her "model student" to remind the kids to do like Dylan. He didn't know his address either - so we will be working on that one. I know they know it - but we may need to re-enforce it. He is also meeting or exceeding grade level and there were no major issues. I was so happy to hear he is doing so great in school. He and I butt heads and he can give me major attitude but to hear he is that polite, courteous boy in school - I love to hear it.

So the day went great. I'm very thankful to have 2 great teachers this year and the boys are loving Kindergarten!!!

Meetings with our 2 favorite doctor's

Cody had a pretty busy day today. He got out of school at noon to ride to Syracuse to meet with his 2 favorite doctors. We saw Dr. Tatum first. It was a great visit. Cody is very fond of him and I really do love to see the patient/doctor relationship building. His ears are good. Tubes aren't in perfectly but are in enough to leave them alone. He has had this same set for 3 1/2 years now. He checked for the fistula but honestly said he couldn't see much of one. He said there is a small hole and asked if we were having any food out of the nose (no we aren't), any speech issues besides the slight slurring from the appliance (no) and said that we'll just leave well enough alone. No need to go digging for trouble! I couldn't agree more! We talked about a bone graft but he said right now it all depends on those adult teeth. He will leave that call up to Dr. Dillingham and when he says it's time - Dr. Tatum will do it. I trust them both that that is good enough for me.


So we left from seeing Dr. Tatum and had an hour to kill. Leave it to me to find a shopping center. We went and walked around Target. Found the card game Crazy 8's that the boys have a new found love of thanks to their cousin Karly. It is a cute game!



We got to Dr. Dillingham's a little early. Brushed his teeth and they were ready for us. No waiting today. I like that! Cody got the cheek guards in and pictures taken. I brought my camera along and got a shot myself. Here is Cody's bite 4 months after having the palate expander put on:

Pretty cool, huh? He can almost touch top to bottom. We need to push out the top front teeth to hopefully get his bottom ones behind his uppers. His top right tooth is about dead. Although it's not causing him any pain so we are leaving it for now. He moved the wires to help push the upper teeth and immediately Cody felt the pressure. He got his prizes, we go back in 4 weeks and we were out of there by 4:11......4 minutes before our regular scheduled visit. I was excited. I thought maybe we would get home early..................my luck ran out.

We pulled into McDonald's to get his special treat "chicken nugget happy meal" when he says, "mom, I don't want my food". What? What is wrong? He says he doesn't feel good. I looked back and saw the look..he was going to get sick. I threw him a plastic bag I had and he got sick in that. We ordered food and went and parked and he said he was OK. I left him another bag "just in case". I got down the road when he kept getting sick. Oh my heck....I am all by myself. I turn into a parking lot and get out - the bag broke and he was covered. Along with the car seat, seat and the floor. Wonderful! I have 2 napkins in my entire van. I look around and saw the lone Wiggles blanket - sorry blanket you're all I got. Thankfully I had an extra shirt for Cody, so he rode home in that and my coat around his legs. I will be better prepared next time and every other time. That was horrible as I needed to drive. Thankfully he just slept and was fine. I think he worked himself up so much and then the pressure from moving the wire that his stomach just couldn't take it. :(

"Mom, those are for babies"

Dylan says to me yesterday morning that he can't wear his underwear anymore because they hurt. So he is right, he's outgrown a few pair and I told him I would pick him up some new ones at Walmart that afternoon. I asked him what "kind" he would like? Spongebob, Star Wars, etc...you know the character kinds. The underwear that you bought them when they were potty training and you would say "now don't pee pee on Thomas". He informs me that "those are for babies" and he would like the "big boy kind". OMG...really....you are only 5 1/2....you have to have big boy underwear. Sniff, sniff.....they aren't babies anymore. So I bought big boy underwear and he loves it!

What is it??

Who cares!!! What every it "was" my boys got it and are finally getting over "it"! Yeah!!!! I took them both to the doctor yesterday. I tried sending Cody to school as he hadn't had a fever since Saturday AM but after an hour the nurse called and said he needed to come home. He was sneezing and she said "looked uncomfortable". Ok. I was calling the doctor anyway and when I finally got through - I decided to take them both just because I was going. Dylan had the fever all day on Sunday but by Monday it was touch and go. The doctor decided he probably had something viral and to just watch it. Happy to report as of today - he is fine! Appetite and attitude back! :) Cody I had sort of self diagnosed. You do get to know your kids. Whenever Cody gets a head cold - it turns into an infection. His nasal passage is so close that the germs just stay put. The doctor did say that at the on-set of the illness he probably had either the flu or H1N1..but they did not swab him for it. He had had his last fever 2 days from our visit with the doctor. So it would not of done any good. He had all the signs: headache, vomiting, cough, fever....the doctor did say that having the flu shot probably helped him along. Thank goodness! He agreed with a sinus infection and gave him amoixicillin and today he had a full dose. He is back to himself also.

Watch out teachers - they are all yours tomorrow! :)

My sister had her surgery. It lasted about 3 hours. She has a lot of internal stitches but only 3 marks on her stomach that only required a steri strip to close. She came home today but felt a little more worn down today. Her blood pressure was dropping - not exactly sure why. Possibly from the pain meds she was on. They switched her to Darvacet and that seemed better. Unfortunately, she had to come home with the catheter still in as she is not back to peeing a 100% yet. The doctor did tuck her bladder so he figured it was probably just a little more swollen than normal. She should get that out on Friday. Resting at home is so much better and I know Karly and Connor were excited to see her. Now, she needs to get better so I can have my shopping partner back! :)

Halloween festivites / sick kids

The Halloween festivities are all over. We had lots of fun this year with the boys being in school. Tyler had his party on Thursday. He wanted to take cupcakes so I baked em and Daddy frosted them. He had fun with his friends.

Thursday, Cody had ran a temp on and off all day. By the end of school, he came home and hit the couch. I was hoping it would end at that. It didn't! About 11:30, he woke up getting sick. Then again at 2am. No school for him on Friday which also meant he had to miss all of his school fun. He was so sad as he really was looking forward to wearing his costume. I'm a room mom in each class, so I went back to help out in Dylan's class. It was so fun to really meet some of the kids that he talks about all of the time. I over heard one kid ask him "is that your mom"......I remember always loving when my mom could come to school for events. Kids love that! As his party was winding down, Cody's class was just starting. Even though he wasn't there, I thought I would stop down and help. His teacher is so sweet and was shocked to see me. She said she missed him and was so sad he wasn't there. Me too! She rounded up some stuff for me to take home to him. I went back for the parade and got Dylan all ready. The kids looked awesome in their costumes. Brought back so many memories of my parade walking days. As I was standing in front of the van, Cody's teacher came by and was really hoping that I had brought Cody to watch. The kids wanted to stop and say Hi. I love his teacher!

Halloween day was good to the boys. Cody woke up feeling much better, still tired, still coughing but the fever was gone. So they waited as patiently as they could till it was time to go out trick or treating! The Smith's came down and my mom for pizza and then it was time! Costumes were put on and we were off. The got lots of candy and had fun. Brett and I just strolled together as they went from door to door. They have the routine down pat. Connor was a little slow and brought up the rear but he did great. When we thought it was time to stop, Karly, Tyler and Dylan didn't want to stop. So they kept walking while Connor and Cody went back home.

This morning Dylan woke up with a fever. It's been hoovering around 100 and he's been on the couch for most of the day. He's coughing and not eating. I know he doesn't feel good when he doesn't eat. He always eats! :) Tylenol seems to be working but only lasting 4 hours. Just waiting to see what day Tyler gets it. I know it's coming. :(

Today was also the last day of football games. Yeah! I get my husband back on the weekends now. We have missed him! And I must note that he got extremely lucky this year.....he did not have one game in the rain. It might have sprinkled but he never got soaked. Very lucky and probably won't happen again.

So what is up in the coming weeks. ..... Tanya has to have surgery tomorrow as she is getting a partial hysterectomy done. Gonna be a long recovery but hopefully it goes quick for her. Cody goes to Syracuse on the 9th for a meeting with Dr. Tatum and with Dr. Dillingham for an adjustment to the expander. Not sure why Dr. Tatum wants to see him so my nerves are already kicking in. Connor has his 3rd birthday and then there is Thanksgiving!!! Yum, Yum! I love turkey day. I love the food, especially my mom's turkey! And of course...the countdown is on till the big man comes!!!!