Houston!

Wow, its been forever since I've posted, and nice that I just looked at my LAST post over two months ago where I wrote I was going to be a better blogger (maybe some day ?) ha,ha.

We've enjoyed a very busy summer filled with friends and family, travelling and memory making. I'll start with our most recent trip to visit the boys grandparents and Aunt Becky in Houston Texas.

The adventure started out with the boys first plane ride

Alex and Daddy sat behind us on the first plane

After take off, I heard Alex say "more flying?"!!!!

He was afraid we were done. 

I had the slightly more nervous passenger. 

He started to cry when it was time to walk onto the plane 

and I thought "oh no, this is going to be a long day"

 but once we got going, Nicholas really liked it too!!! 

 and forget all the things I thoughtfully packed to keep them busy on the plane.

All this one needed were those headphones. It didn't even need to be plugged into anything.

He pretended they plugged into everything and was perfectly content!

Nicholas preferred his to actually work 

and loved being able to watch

"Franklin" or "Ratatouille"

(thanks to our friends the O's for letting us borrow the portable players!)

 This is actually on the plane ride home

finally passed out after a long day of travelling.   

Not so much with my co-passenger,

he said simply "baby froggy is not tired mommy."

Grandma and Grandpa were excited about our visit 

and thoughtfully planned lots of fun things to do and see.

Our first visit the next day was to the children's museum of play

 The ambulance was the kids favorite thing here by far.

They are a little too familiar with all the medical equipment.

They showed the "big kids" how to listen for breath

and "belly" sounds and Nicholas shockingly

knew exactly how to "bag" a patient.

Mommy and Daddy remember this happening several times

with both boys during those initial NICU days but really,

where did he learn that? If that wasn't weird enough,

he tried to give the "patient" mouth to mouth after......

Actually their "medical" kit was the one thing

the boys wanted to make sure we brought with us.

The boys wanted to make sure Grandpa had a check up,

multiple times!!

The next day was a drive to Galveston beach.

It was an almost two hour drive but worth it.

The water was warm---seriously warm.

and it was shallow and calm enough for the boys

to splash and swim around..  

 and ofcourse built sand castles!

 Grandma and Aunt Becky enjoying some quiet time

and shade

We practically had the beach to ourselves,

we seriously could have stayed here happily for days....

Next day was the Houston Aquarium

 ....just keep swimming, just keep swimming....

Kids thought this could be Dory from "Finding Nemo"

 Nicholas: wow, these fish are almost as big as me

Careful Aunt Becky  :)

 Seriously very cool place

and most things were accessible for Alex

And when they weren't....

well luckily Alex is still little enough,

I mean look how strong Daddy is :)

We also visited the Houston Space Center

I regrettably don't have many pictures.

We walked around mostly in awe.

 Waiting for the tram tour

And you think YOU have a hard job :)

The museum of Natural Science

Again, wish I had taken more pictures.

This place was incredible and honestly its something I would 

have loved to do without the kids, at least at their age right now.

There was so much I wish we could have seen,

or stayed longer to read and learn. It was really incredible!!

 We tried to keep the kids entertained so lots of dinosaur viewing

Seriously, can you imagine these guys just walking around? yikes!

  

sharks mouth, yikes!

 and Egyption period.

Kids were fascinated by the mummies

even though they kept pronouncing them "mommies"

I saved the Houston Zoo for last because it was truly one of my

and the kids favorites.

Tons of animals, yes but the zoo itself was more like a park

It was simply stunning and definitely 

I know my pictures can't do it justice but it was really breathtaking

Nicholas: wait, what the?

 I'm outta here!

ummm is it just me or does he still look hungry?

Nicholas thought he was just a little "too big"

He preferred the one that didn't move, or eat!

We had a fabulous time and made lots of memories

a HUGE thank you to 

Grandma and Grandpa for having us out!!!!! 

Camping

On the road again.....

I'm going to try to be a better blogger. 

I've been (finally) filling out the boys baby books

and this blog is really the place I've chronicled the big and little stuff to look back on. 

I hope the boys will enjoy it too when they get older. 

Its also been a great way to keep out of town family and friends in the loop with the boys

and I'm always pleasantly surprised when I get an email from someone we don't know asking information about spina bifida or food allergies because a friend of a friend pointed them our way. 

We've relied on so many others during this journey and I"m sure we will continue to do so 

and it feels really good to be able to give back a little bit of our knowledge or experience 

to any one who might need it the way so many others have done for us. 

 Anywhooo.... We kicked off our summer this weekend with our first camping trip of the season. 

It was Father's Day weekend and that was exactly how hubby wanted to spend it. 

Its not a big secret that hubby is more excited about this camping business than I am, 

hence why we gave up roughing it by tent a few years ago 

and got the camper (a.k.a the hotel on wheels). 

 Its honestly a lot of effort to get all the clothing, meals, food, sheets, pillows, diapers, loveys, toys, medicines etc. all packed up just to unpack them all again two days later. 

So I guess I'm kind of a grinch about it, begrudgingly getting everything ready and packed up, all because hubby really likes it, and its good for the boys, yadayadayada.

And our boys who are just a wee bit OCD with routines and everything has to be the way it "normally" is, well lets just say that first night of camping was not all that much fun initially. 

Except I admit when the 'work' is done and we are unpacked and settled at our site, 

there is something very special about getting away like this. 

We are unplugged from the Tv, internet, and phones and just focus on

being together. There isn't a mile long list of things we "should" be doing like if we were at home.

When you are camping, you are "supposed" to take walks, 

dig in the dirt, find sticks and bugs, jump in puddles, 

or just wear your rain boots every where

Camping is about just being a kid, exploring, playing

 trying new things

sometimes new things are a little bit scary

  or hard work (alex climbing all the way up)

but on the other side....

it sure feels great and gives us confidence for the next thing!

  

Oh......and every one knows its just not camping

without the marshmallows!!!

A very good and humble reminder that sometimes

it truly is the little things in life that are really really sweet :)

We have a walker!

this video was taken just a week into Alex having the walker.

I take for granted that every one is on facebook these days so things don't get to our blog as readily as they used to. Some things don't get here at all, bad blogger! So for any of our family or friends who follow here, here it is. 

We have a walker!!!!

To think that there was a time that we almost didn't pursue this. The doctors, therapists all told us it would be cumbersome/heavy/sweaty and take A LOT of effort on Alex's part (and ALL of those things are true) but he LOVES it and as with everything else, Alex lets us know when he's ready and he defies our expectations every.single.time!!!

Thank you to our "Miss Patty" who decided almost immediately that we should try a walker after seeing him want to move around in his braces. We had NO idea what to expect but agreed, sure lets see what he wants to do with it.

Alex you are so sweetly shy, hesitant with new things, new people but when you figure out that you want something, watch out world! Your determination, your strength, your mile wide stubborn streak, they all make me love you more. I'm so unbelievably proud of you Alex!!!