A Vest!!

One of Finn's daily required treatments is airway clearance.  Since the time he was about 6 weeks old the Respiratory Therapist (RT) had prescribed 10 minutes of Chest Physical Therapy (CPT) twice a day.  At first I did it with my hands, just beating on his ribcage.  However, it's pretty hard to do it correctly and effectively that way, so we moved on to percusors to help us out.  Around the time he was 12 months old, the RT started talking to us about getting him a vest.  We even switched insurance carriers this year, just because the coverage on durable medical equipment (which is what the vest falls under) is better.  It turns out that there are 3 different companies that manufacture vests.  In the end, they all do HFCWO (High-Frequency Chest Wall Oscillation) and since there are industry standards, they are all effective.  So, in making a decision, it comes to down to other smaller factors.  One vest has one air tube to help it inflate, the other two have 2 tubes.  One vest is machine dryable, while the other is only machine washable.  Yep, silly little things like that.  We were actually able to eliminate one company quite quickly, but the other two companies were kind of a toss up.  We went through the pro's and con's many times.  We finally had sales reps out here for both companies.  After what feels like an agaonizingly long time, we made a decision!  Finn now has a nice new The Vest by Hill-Rom.  After struggling for a year and half to do CPT, this has been wonderful.  He loves his new vest and has not missed a treatment since getting it.  It's easy for both mommy and Finn.  Win-WIN!

Shoes

Finn loves shoes!  He is our adventurous boy and shoes are representative for him of going out.  So, he loves them.  It doesn't hurt that the "oo" sound is also one of his favorites.  There's juice, shoes, moo, and choo choo.  He's also gotten really good at asking "What/Who's that?"  In the last week, he's learned the word baby and the phrase night-night.  He is certainly getting a lot more vocal.  There are times where I'm convinced I have heard him say the phrases "I need...." (fill in the blank) and "I just sad."  Oh, and he for sure says, "I do, I do" when there's something he wants to do by himself.  He can jump off of two feet and he loves to throw himself around. Tonight he was doing seat drops on the floor (jumping from both feet and landing flat on his bum--hard).  He certainly keeps us on our toes and we love him so much!

Caution

I will admit that I can be a bit of a cautious parent.  At the park, I'm the parent climbing the equipment with my children to make sure that no one gets hurt.  (Unfortunately, even despite that, both of my kids have ended up hurt at the playground!)  Also, neither of my children have attended nursery until they were 20 months old.  But even though I'm pretty cautious, there are also times when I get a little too relaxed and don't realize the dangers that could occur.  And honestly, I never thought about anything bad happening at the beach.

On Tuesday May 31st when we returned to our hotel room Reid noticed a helicopter flying outside.  He pointed it out to Kai and after only a brief time watching it, it became apparent that it was searching for something.  As we looked down the beach we noticed boats, and a group of bystanders all in the same area of the helicopter.  The helicopter was the coast guard and the boats were police boats.  Search lights were aimed pretty close to the shore.  We quickly drew the conclusion that if they were looking for someone, they most likely weren't alive.  It made us sad.

After everyone went to bed, I went out to the sitting room to check the evening news.  The lead story was the search for a missing 9 year-old boy who was presumed to have drowned at the beach.  At that point the search had been called off and officials felt that the boy's body would wash up during the night.  Wednesday morning I was concerned that the beach might be closed, and so I checked the news again.  The boy had been found around 2am about 14 blocks from where he had disappeared.  To read the story, click here.

So, here's what I took from this unfortunate event.  The first is that when the red flags are flying at the beach, don't touch the water.  That remained our rule for the rest of our time at the beach.  Most of the time the red flags seemed to fly in the afternoon when we were doing other activities, but Friday morning the red flag was flying.  Good thing we were leaving the beach and didn't go out that morning.

The second thing I took from this is that I need to get my boys some basic swim lessons.  When Kai was little I had heard a statistic that children under the age of 4 who take swim lessons are actually more likely to drown.  The reasoning behind this is that both parents and children get a little too careful and comfortable around the water and don't take the caution they should.  So, based on that, I never did swim lessons with Kai, and honestly just forgot about it.  But now, I'm keeping a look out for some good lessons for Kai.  I'm not ready yet for Finn, but Kai needs some lessons.  I just need to find some that will fit for us.  If any Colorado friends have a recommendation, I'm open.

Anyway, I know you've all been waiting to hear what happened on our trip, so there it is.  I hope it doesn't upset anyone too much, but that it does remind us all to respect nature and to just be careful out there.  It's been a rough season on the east coast.  So, while I would highly recommend a trip to the beach for any family, I would also say to just make sure you're careful.

Our Family Vacation--Days 5, 6, and 7 (This is a long one!)

The morning of Friday June 3rd (day 5 of our vacation) we packed up and headed out.  We had actually headed out to Virginia for my older sister's wedding.  I was the Matron of Honor and Kai was participating as the ring bearer, so we had some wedding errands that needed to be done that day.  Our first stop was Shockley's cake shop to pick up the Groom's Cake for the rehearsal dinner that night.  When we arrived they weren't quite ready for us and so we got to look around for a bit.  Kai loves Cake Boss and making cakes on his Playdough Cake Makin' Station, so he really enjoyed looking at all of the cakes and cupcakes in the store.  And since we were waiting, the manager was nice enough to give us a big box of cake truffles.  They were yummy!

Once we had the cake loaded in the car we headed to Hampton, Virginia to pick up Kai's tuxedo.  First we had to try it on him to make sure it "fit".  To be honest, though, they gave Kai the smallest tuxedo they had so even if it didn't fit, there wasn't going to be much to do about it.  In fact, Kai's shirt was definitely too big, but they just had us roll the sleeves back and button them without the cuff links.  Anyway, he was handsome in his tux and quite excited to get his "special suit". 

It's so hard to get my kids to stand still for pictures!

After picking up the cake and tux, we grabbed some lunch before heading out to Jasmine Plantation, which is where the wedding was being held.  As my sister had rented the place out for the weekend, we were some of the lucky ones that got to stay at the plantation.  We got the Brenneman suite, which actually had a sitting room, bathroom, and two bedrooms.  We got to the Plantation early enough to unload, meet some of Charlie's extended family, and visit with my family for a bit.  It was so fun to see my brother Joseph with his wife Amy and new baby Zachary.  Kai was enthralled with his new little cousin and just smothered him with love and kisses.  Kai has really decided that he likes babies lately, which is nice.  He was a very good older cousin, except for not listening when he was told to leave the baby alone.

That evening was the rehearsal and then the rehearsal dinner, which was held in Richmond at Bottom's Up Pizza.  During the rehearsal we realized that there was going to be no way to keep Finn quiet and still during the ceremony and so after some conversation we decided that Reid and Finn would play in the house during the ceremony the next day and come out for the party.

The morning of the wedding came just like every other, a bit earlier than we would have liked.  The kids ate breakfast and then we got them both into the tub.  After they were done with that we let them roam around a bit outside, but it was hot so we quickly went back in.  Reid and I started to get ready for the wedding and before we knew it it was time for lunch.  Reid was amazing as he went out to the local Dairy Queen and picked up lunch for me, the boys, Wendy, and the other maid of honor.  He also ironed all of our clothes.  He was great!

Finn checking out the bridge over the pond.

The tent getting setup for the reception.

The boys loved playing with this little gate.

Finn took a good long nap that afternoon, which gave me time to go get my hair and make-up done and hang out with my sister as she was getting ready for her wedding.  My mom was nice enough to sit in the room with Finn while he slept and make sure he didn't roll off of the bed.  Of course, once he woke up he didn't want anyone but me and so it got a bit hairy, but we managed.  Reid got Kai dressed and ready and before we knew it, it was time for the ceremony.

Ahhh....how do I describe the ceremony.  It was fantastic!  Kai was the last one to walk down the aisle before Wendy and my dad.  Let me tell you that having just walked down that aisle, I knew what an intimidating task it was.  Once I hit my spot, I turned around to see Kai coming down the aisle.  He did everything perfectly and with a huge smile on his face.  Everyone ooohhhhed and ahhhhed.  After he went down the aisle, he sat with my parents on the front row while I stood next to Wendy.  The ceremony was beautiful and I wanted to second everything the officiant said.  At one point in the ceremony the officiant asked who offered support from the bride's family.  My dad, who was sitting next to Kai, said "I do."  Kai looked confused for a half a second and then added his own loud "I do!".  Everyone chuckled and then the officiant asked for a show of support from the groom's side. This time Charlie's dad said "I do" from across the aisle, and Kai once again said his own "I do".  Once again, more chuckles.

The ceremony ended beautifully and then it was time to party.  The reception was just as nice as the ceremony and was a lot of fun.  There was great food (including chicken nuggets and mac 'n cheese for the kids), good company, and some great drinks.  They even had an old fashioned soda bottle bar!

After eating, there was dancing.  Kai made some friends with my sister's girl friends and had a good time dancing with them.  They thought he was so cute.  As a mom, it felt so good to hear everyone say how cute and well-behaved my kids were.  We sure fooled them didn't we!

We stayed through the tossing of the bouqet and garter and then I gave my toast.  After the toast, the cake was cut.  We enjoyed some yummy chocolate banana cake and then it was time to take the kids to bed.  Finn was so exhausted that he slept solidly through the music and the slamming door of the house.  It had been a long and good day and we were all ready for bed.  But I really wanted to be back enjoying the party.  It was a lot of fun and the DJ was awesome!

My brother Rob, me, and Kai waiting in the house as the guests are seated.

The junior bridesmaid, maid of honor, and me

Kai--the best ring bearer ever!

The table centerpieces

My dad walking Wendy down the aisle

Kai dancing with his new friend

Wendy and Charlie!

"You may now kiss the bride."

The window pane has the seat assignments on it.

Kai and his new cousin Zachary  (Amy, I hope it's ok I borrowed your pictures!)

The only picture of all 3 cousins

  The next morning it was time to pack up.  After saying goodbye to my parents, we headed to the morning after brunch at Hondo's.  It was a great brunch and it was fun to see Joseph, Amy, Zachary, and Rob again.  After brunch we lingered a bit to say goodbye to everyone again.  With my family living on the the east coast, we never know how long it'll be before we see them again.  So, we lingered.  And then from there we headed to the airport.

The flight home was a bit, well, rough, but we made it.  We were exhausted and ready to be in our own beds.  We had a great vacation and it was hard to be back in Colorado again.  After all of the waiting and planning for this vacation it felt a bit as if Christmas had ended when it was all over.  But I'm grateful we were able to go and have such a great time and see family.  Here's to doing it all again someday!

Our Family Vacation--Day 3 and 4

As I said in my last post, we worked ourselves into a nice routine at the beach.  Wednesday morning was no exception.  Here are our pictures from the beach that morning.

More sandcastles  :)

We taught Kai to write in the sand and he decided to write "I love Daddy"

Finn discovered the joy of chasing seagulls.  We followed them all over the beach.

At one point, he chased them right into the waves.  He was so intent on chasing the gulls that he didn't notice he was in the water and he got knocked off of his feet by a wave.  I caught him before he landed on his bum, but he did get wet.  He wasn't so happy about that.

Reid really enjoyed just being out in the water.  It would be shallow, get deep, and then get shallow again.  See where Reid is standing?  That's the second shallow area.

For lunch we decided to get ice cream at Dairy Queen which so conveniently was located on the beach.  After ice cream, I put Finn down for a nap and then spent some one-on-one time with Kai.  Reid stayed in the room with Finn to read and Kai and I went to research boat rides.  Kai had been watching the boats while we were at the beach and really wanted to ride one.  So, we went to search out the options.  After we settled on a possible boat ride we decided to take a walk.  We walked a few blocks down the street and stumbled upon this history trail.  It was definitely interesting and we enjoyed our time together.

I had heard of pretty much all of the "legends" except this one.  And it made me laugh!  So Virginia has a certified witch, huh??

Our activity that afternoon was to walk to the north end of the boardwalk.  We were staying on the 18th block and it turns out that the boardwalk runs from 1st Street to 40th Street, but for some reason going from 18th to 40th seemed a lot longer than it seemed to get to 1st Street.  The kids were a bit wound up and definitely ready to be done with our walk when we finished.  So, we decided to get in our van and drive a few miles to Taco Bell for dinner.  Finn had a great time dancing at Taco Bell.  He was seriously ready to go to bed at the end of another good day.

"The World's Largest Inflatable Water Slide"

The statue across from Neptune Park.

There were lots of these fun sculptures up and down the boardwalk.

Thursday morning was our last day on the beach and so it was hard to leave that morning.  We lingered as long as we could that morning.  We seriously had grown to enjoy our time in the sun and sand.  One of the things that I found interesting about the area was the large military presence.  Every day we were out at the beach we would see a large number of military aircraft flying overhead.  It kind of reminded me of Colorado, except this time the reality was that these planes were probably headed to war.  Such an interesting contrast to the people playing happily on the beach below.



Kai wanted to bury someone in the sand.  I told him absolutely not.  Good thing Reid is a more fun parent than I am!  Here's the process they went through to bury Reid in the sand.

Finn and a large pile of sand

Finn was being a good helper

Testing out the hole

Buried!

Kai made his daddy a pillow for his head.

Playing and stepping on buried Daddy.

After Reid got out he left what looked like a slide to Finn.  So, of course he slid in the dirt.

An attempt to capture a plane headed east.  It was hard to see if I actually had it in the shot because the sun was so bright.

One last time out in the water.  This is one of the boats that Kai had been seeing over the last 3 days.

One last look at the beach

At lunch time my parents and brother arrived in town and so Reid and Kai went with them to lunch while I stayed with a napping Finn.  After the nap we all headed to the Virginia Aquarium where we took a creek tour--or a boat ride for Kai.  It was about a half an hour trip that just went up and down a inlet.  There really wasn't much exciting about the trip, but Kai got to ride on a boat and he loved it.  Finn actually held court on the boat.  He kept turning a chair over and then setting it back up so that he could turn it over again.  I tried to stop him at one point and he threw such a fit that everyone on the boat told me to just let him do it.  Sigh.....he won that battle.

On the boat

So excited!  He made good friends with the boat's captain and even got to blow his wooden choo-choo whistle.

The scenery on the boat ride

Checking out the scenery from the chair that he kept turning over

We ended our time in Virginia Beach by heading to Golden Corral for dinner with my family.  We had a good time and the boys were tired.  They had been waking up earlier and earlier as the days went on and were getting a lot closer to switching to Eastern Time despite our desperate attempts.  And so for that reason the boys were getting more and more tired, which resulted in Finn getting more and more clingy.  Since I was the primary photographer it became a lot harder to take pictures with Finn constantly clinging to me, and so the pictures from this point on are a lot more scarce.  Drat!