Afterwards....

The day after Christmas the boys were up and ready to go early.  We had found these shirts on clearance earlier in the week and they were quick to put them on and be superheros.  Too cute!

Part of what encouraged the cleaning spree on Christmas Eve was the plan to move both boys into the same room on the 26th.  So Reid spent a part of the day moving Finn's bed out of the "nursery" and into the "boys' room".  We called our home teachers to help out with putting the beds on top of each other and once it was done the boys were super excited.  Kai has done quite well sleeping on the top bunk and he is working hard on taking the big brother role and trying to make Finn more comfortable.  Finn isn't sleeping any worse than before, but he isn't sleeping better either.  That means I still get up with him at least once a night, so we've got some things to work on.  But it's fun to have them enjoying being together so much.

Also that night Reid got out the telescope so the boys could test it out.  Here it's aimed out our front window at the moon.

Reid was trying to help them see out of the eye piece

Waiting his turn

He really tried!  And he's convinced he saw it!

Christmas 2012

We were happy to have Reid home with us for Christmas.  In fact, he's still home with us!  We both think this is the most amount of time that Reid has had off in 5 years when we haven't had a trip planned.  It's been nice to be home and just get some things done.  And Christmas Eve was no exception.  We spent the day cleaning and organizing.  It started as a simple project and then of course we stumbled on more to do.  While I was doing dishes in the afternoon this was the view from the sink.  I LOVED it!  The boys were cleaning out the closet and had found Elmo slippers and DU horns (I think??  We got them when Finn was in the hospital from some girls on the volleyball team that were visiting patients) and Finn decided to put them on.  It was funny to watch him and fun to see them have so much fun with toys that they had forgotten about.

Notice the letters above the bedroom door?  That's for another post, but suffice it to say that Reid and I have realized that baby girl's name can NOT begin with a "C".

 I've mentioned before that Finn is in the weird drop-the-nap, don't drop-the-nap phase and I wasn't sure what to do on Christmas Eve.  If he takes a nap he's up until 9pm at least.  But if he doesn't, it could get dicey.  Well, we decided to skip the nap (too much cleaning going on) and at the dinner table the poor kid's eyes started rolling in his head and he was just about to fall out of his chair.  I put him on my lap hoping to keep up a bit and instead he passed out--it was only 5:30pm.  We decided to finish dinner, have Kai open his Christmas jammies and present from Great-Grandma, get Finn dressed and put him to bed.  He slept through all of it and was in his bed before 6:30pm.  So, we enjoyed a quiet evening with Kai and put out milk and cookies for Santa.  Kai was very excited for Santa to come and kept asking what time it would be.

With Finn's early bedtime I thought for sure I would be up at the crack of dawn--or really earlier, but would you believe that he slept until nearly 5:30am and then went back to sleep when I snuggled up with him.  I ended up talking him out of his bed at 7am, as I was afraid that Kai would be waiting for us.  (He wasn't by the way.  Drats, we should of just let everyone keep sleeping!)

Anyway, the boys got lots of neat gifts and seem to love every single one.  After we had opened all of the presents except for a few labeled for the family we asked Kai what he thought.  He said he had gotten everything he wanted except for one--a telescope.  We told him maybe next year, and then pointed out that we had one box left.  He was so happy to see a telescope in that box!

Leaving cookies for Santa

Legos from his Aunt and Uncle

The castle that Finn had been wanting

This present (in the snowflake paper) remained wrapped until the very end because Reid made the mistake of saying that it was Finn's present from Santa.  After that he wanted nothing to do with it!  We ended up having him use his battering ram from his Aunt and Uncle (shown below) to punch holes into the paper so he could see what it was and feel ok opening it.

Opening....

A battering ram to go with his castle

A fun, creative gift from brother and sister-in-law

The Imaginext Space Shuttle from Grammy and Papa

Sometimes opening presents is just too hard and you need to take a break!

Another creative gift from my brother.  The boys enjoy stretching these bands into the shapes that came on the cards.  

A telescope!

And then begins the process of putting things together

Finn's loot--Notice Jake's ship Bucky, the castle and many accessories including that awesome dragon!

Kai's loot

Playing together

I was pleased with the boys and the way they shared all of their new toys.  In the hours following the opening of gifts the boys played just about everything together--Angry Birds, Superheros, Space Shuttles, Castles, and more.  They were doing so well together that I thought we could have gotten away with half of the presents and just given them to both boys.....oh well, next year?!

Winter Party

Last year I volunteered to be Kai's Pre-K classroom room mom.  It was a LOT of work and I wore myself out.  While I really wanted to be involved this year, I made a promise to myself that I would not be room mom.  I had a hard time not volunteering for the position, but I was happy to find out that a couple of other moms had stepped up.  Sheww!  Instead of being room mom this year, I am making sure to volunteer in the classroom at least once a month, sign-up for Playdough Club, and volunteer to help at the parties.  We were at Disney World for the fall party, so the Winter Party was my first chance.  The party was held on the last day of school before winter break, Thursday December 21st.  Our babysitter was taking final exams and so was getting out of school early, which worked out perfect.  Finn got to play with Megan while I had fun with Kai.  I was put in charge of the donut on a string game.  It was funny to watch the kids struggle with it, and some kids decided just not to struggle.  But it was fun to be in class with Kai (as always) and to see so many parents turn out to support their kids.

Kai was moving so fast it was hard to catch a good picture.

Kai and one of his friends trying to eat donuts.  This little guy is one of a set of identical twins in Kai's class and they are adorable!

He gave up and opted for the easy method.

Kai enjoying his snacks with his elf hat on.  Funny story, when Kai saw that there was milk to go with snack he got SO excited.  He even asked his teacher if they could have milk every day.  He went through 3 glasses of it!  And then he came up and said he had a new idea for a birthday party--a DRINK party!  The cake could even been in the shape of a milk jug.  One of the other moms overheard, laughed, and asked what we did at our house.  Ahhhhhh......the innocence of a 5 year old.  But he has now developed a new motto:  You can't keep a Kai from his milk.

Kai's kindergarten class--all 14 of them!  One is moving soon and so they will be down to 13 kids in his class.  Yes, this is public school, we just got super lucky!  Oh, and Kai's being a goof because his teacher tossed out the idea of having a silly picture once the serious picture was done.  Apparently Kai didn't hear that last part and couldn't wait to be silly.

Snow Day

Wednesday December 20th saw our first snow day from school!  While Finn took a nap, Kai and I did some fun crafts.  It was fun to have some "us" time.  We don't get too much of that these days.

A Glimpse into Dinner

Over the last two months or so the boys have discovered a new game, Minecraft.  They LOVE it and they loved it even more when their dad showed them that they could actually play together.  One boy on the iPhone, and one on the iPad, and then they enter the same world and play together.  Sometimes it's just so much fun that there's no need to stop for dinner.

20 Week Ultrasound

At 16 weeks pregnant, I decided to switch OBs.  It turned into some serious drama and caused me some serious stress.  But as a result, I went into an appointment at 16 weeks and 3 days and the new doctor wanted an ultrasound to confirm dates.  It was 2 days before Thanksgiving and the baby was far enough along that we were able to get a look at gender.  I didn't want to find out, though, without Reid, so I had the technician put the information in an envelope.  After our pizza dinner that night we opened the envelope to find out we are having a little GIRL!!  Kai is super excited to have a sister, and I don't think I need to explain how excited I am to buy some pink and purple.

I will admit that I was skeptical.  I didn't want to get my hopes up, and the technician did tell me that the biggest mistake made is saying that it's a girl when it really is a boy.  So, I was looking forward to our 20 week ultrasound this week so that I could see for myself.  We had a different tech this time and she agrees that it is indeed a girl.  Little girl is growing right on schedule and looks healthy (well, as much as they can tell from an ultrasound).  I have now had three ultrasounds in the last 10 weeks and all three of them have indicated that baby is three days ahead of her estimated due date of May 4th.  The tech this week told me that is really unusual to have three different ultrasounds by three different techs at three different times and all come up with a due date of May 1st.  (Have you noticed a common thread?  This is baby number three!)

Anyway, we did get some pictures from our ultrasound, but none of them are that great.  Baby girl was fine with us looking at other parts of her, but when it came time to look at her face she wanted nothing to do with it.  She had her hands by her hand with elbows up so we couldn't see.  Honestly, it reminded me a bit of Finn who liked to do that too, and to this days falls asleep with his hands by his face.  He was even born with scratches on his head from having his hands up there!  Hopefully baby girl doesn't scratch herself! 

See both elbows up?  I think I see a nose behind the front elbow, but I'm not so sure.

More elbows

Other randomness

A few more shots from this fall.  I haven't taken too many pictures lately because I've been still trying to figure out how to do this cell phone camera thing.  I think I've got it and I'm hoping to get some more pictures.  I just have to remember to take them!

Finn was acting up in the tub (in October, and I can't remember what he did) so bathtime ended early.  This is his sad face while he sits in a completely empty tub crying about it.  He sat there for a good 10 minutes.  Poor thing must have been super cold!

Ipad time.  Seriously, I have to make Reid take this to work sometimes just so I can say we don't have it, you can't play it.

Kai with chocolate on his face!

Sleeping in the cart at Wal-Mart.  Sometimes being a kid and playing at the park can wear you out!

For school Kai had to decorate a turkey in a disguise so he could avoid getting eaten.  Kai and  Daddy worked for a while to make this just right.

Finn loves to be outside and even after everyone else had given up on raking the leaves Finn was still going strong.  He had a blast having me rake them into a pile that he could jump in, even if it was little.

Ok, so maybe I haven't figured out the cell phone camera thing, as I can see I have other pictures on my camera but they aren't showing up on the computer.  So, I guess I will need Reid's technical help when he gets home!

Pine Cones and Lakes

Somehow, at the beginning of the school year, Finn got it into his head that when Kai goes to school he gets to go to the park.  It's become a near daily request for a trip to the park.  At first I was using it as an excuse to go for a nice long drive until Finn fell asleep in his car seat and then we would just head home.  After a while, though, he caught on to this and would cry when he woke up in the garage and insist on heading to the park.  He is still in the dropping his nap phase and there are times he does better than others.  I have found that if we go to the park he does great but then he'll crash in the car on the way home (too late for a nap).  Anyway, long story short, I try to pick our park days as best as I can. And lately, even more than the playground, he has asked to go to the park just so he can throw pine cones into the lake.  It's become one of our favorite things to do.  It's normally just us sitting on the rocks by the lake.  Finn started by throwing pine cones but it has turned into sticks, rocks, and pine needles, too.  When it is warmer, and sometimes not so warmer, he will occasionally try to get in himself.  I keep taking him back because I know this warm weather won't last for long, and to be honest, these as some fun memories for just the two of us.  (I also have a video from November, but apparently I recorded it upside down.  One of these days I'll figure out how to work this cell phone!)

Wading in the stream in October.  This was a super fun afternoon.  Perfect weather and Finn got soaked!

Later in October.  Not exactly a wading day, but definitely great for pinecone throwing.

GI Success?

It's been a while since I've updated on Finn's GI issues, so I thought I'd do that quickly.  We've been on the bethanechol now for almost 3 months.  I'll admit that I have been less than strict with this medication.  It's a refrigerated medication that needs to be given at even intervals throughout the day with meals.  Ummmm....yeah.  Dinner, that's easy.  Breakfast, also easy.  It's that mid-day dose that normally doesn't happen.  He doesn't eat lunch half-way between breakfast and dinner, and the half-way point doesn't always put me at home near a refrigerator.  It's a complicated logistic that I haven't been able to solve.  That being said, I did hear his test results last week and have renewed my commitment to this medication.  I found out last week that at the one-hour mark Finn had digested only 32% of his Ensure (it should be 50%), and at the two-hour mark he had only digested 55% (it should be 75%).  So, yep, he has slow motility and needs this medication.

At our CF clinic appointment at the end of September we discussed the issues with Dr. Z and she thought we needed to try a daily dose of Miralax.  CFers do not absorb as much as a "normal" person and therefore should be dirtying diapers more frequently.  Finn normally produced one diaper a day at that point.  So, we added Miralax with the goal of 2 to 4 diapers a day, which is apparently the common amount of a CFer Finn's age.

Since starting Miralax we have had no unexplained vomiting episodes!  It has actually been almost 3 months since we have had one.  I think we may have found the answer!  Yippee!!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed and I can't wait to go back to the GI with the good news.

Disney World--Days 5, 6 and 7

Day 5--Wednesday October 31st we headed to the Animal Kingdom.  I will admit that I didn't expect much out of this park.  And out of all of the Disney parks, this one closes the earliest.  We came to find out that they close early because they bring in to count, feed, and take care of every single animal every single night.  It's a several hour process and so they have to close early to make sure the keepers can get off at a relatively decent time.  Anyway, we got there around 11am again and had until the park closed at 5pm.  I honestly thought we'd be done before that, but I was very pleasantly surprised with how much we enjoyed this park.  We started with a bird show, Flights of Wonder, that was just awesome.  It was fun for all of us!  And then we took a stroll through Maharahjah Jungle Trek where we saw bats and tigers and more.  From there we slid into a showing of "It's Tough to Be a Bug" (a 4D movie again) before heading to lunch.  (Warning:  The movie is a tad scary and even Kai didn't like this one!)  We had a sit-down meal reserved at the restaurant Yak and Yeti for lunch and out of all of our reservations this was the one that I was most worried about.  And this was the one that Reid was most looking forward to.  I needn't have worried, as the food was quite good and it ended up being Reid's favorite restaurant of the trip.  I'll admit that even tougher for me than meat during pregnancy is Chinese meat, and so while I liked the food I wasn't in love with it.  Maybe next time, though.  It's definitely on our recommended list!

After lunch we headed over to Kilamanjaro Safaris and enjoyed our bumpy bus ride.  Admittedly, we had the crabbiest tour guide ever (and I even thought I heard him utter a bad word!) but the views were great.  If we ever repeat this, I hope we have a happier driver as I'm sure it would just make the experience that much better.  From there we took the Wildlife Express train out to Habitat Habit! and Conservation Station.  There was so much to do there we could have easily spent hours!  Kai loves challenges and there were lots of activities for the kids, from finding bugs to counting the number of different kinds of bats.  He took each task seriously and was sad that he couldn't do them all.  At Conservation Station we once again had great luck to run into Rafiki (from Lion King) and see him without a line.  Kai had no idea who he was, but at this point that didn't matter at all!  While Kai was doing some of the activities, Finn joined the little kids table to paint a pumpkin and earn some Halloween treats.  They were also handing out small buckets and we managed to snag the last two.  The ladies running the table told me that there would be trick-or-treating all over the Magic Kingdom that night, including at all of the resorts, so we really needed some buckets.  (We, however, ended up passing on the trick-or-treating experience later in the evening.)

From there we took the train back to "Africa" where we encountered the afternoon parade and got locked in until it was over.  It was a fun parade, even though we were running out of time and wanted to hit DinoLand before closing time.  So as soon as we could we made a break for it and had just a bit of time at DinoLand.  What a fun atmosphere!  The boys loved the Triceratops Spin and then Reid took Kai over to check out the dig site for a few minutes.  After that we took a quick walk around, and then headed for the exit.  We caught a bus back to our resort and then transferred to a Downtown Disney bus where we wanted to go eat dinner.  This was the first and only day that I remember my feet actually hurting.  We were tired and hungry so we took in Downtown Disney quickly and then decided to do some souvenir shopping at World of Disney.  Finn picked out an electronic El Materdor (Mater from Lightning McQueen) and a Lightning McQueen light spinner.  Kai picked out a small plush Perry (from Phineas and Ferb) as well as a matching winter hat.  Finally it was time for dinner at Earl of Sandwhich and then back on the bus to our room.  Only one day left and we wanted to make sure we maximized it!

Finn next to a very large bat

A tiger on our jungle trek

Hippos and pelicans on our safari ride

A whole lot of alligators!

Giraffes--people on the ride were so excited to get so close, so I told them they needed to come to our zoo where you can actually pet them  :)

Elephants

An ostrich walked right in front of our bus so we had to stop and wait for it to cross

Zebras

Rafiki

the Lego store in Downtown Disney--note that even Finn is getting in on the open mouth action now!

Day 6--Thursday November 1st turned into my favorite day of the entire trip.  We headed back to the Magic Kingdom for one last day and this time we pulled the kids out of bed early as we had a morning character breakfast scheduled.  We had not been having good luck with the buses at all and so we knew we needed to leave no less than an hour before our breakfast time.  Once again we missed the bus we needed by milliseconds and were left to wait.  But luck was on our side that day as just two minutes later another bus came, and since everyone had gotten on the first bus, this second bus was empty.  It was just the four of us and the bus driver for the entire 15 minute ride to the Magic Kingdom.  Reid sat up front to talk with the chatty driver while I manned the boys who had taken to wanting to always ride in the back.  We ended up at the Magic Kingdom at 9am and breakfast wasn't until 9:40am.  So, we went straight back to Fantasyland and started at Peter Pan.  Since the line was short we decided to flash our wheelchair sticker (I never felt good about using it when there were a lot of people waiting, so we would use the Fast Passes instead and then come back during Fast Pass time and use it then.) and we ended up walking right onto the ride.  From there we went over to Winnie the Pooh and had the same experience.  With time still remaining, we headed to the Tomorrowland Speedway where we took a turn around the track before running to grab a Space Mountain Fast Pass for Reid and then Buzz Lightyear Fast Passes for Reid and Kai.  We arrived at the Crystal Palace for breakfast at 9:45am.  Amazing!

This was by far my favorite of the sit-down meals.  The atmosphere was very nice and really, who doesn't like a breakfast buffet?!  Finn was still completely petrified of the characters and cried and begged to leave nearly the entire time.  After each character visit he would ask if we were done yet.  After Tigger he thought for sure we were all done and so he had no problem waving good-bye.  The problem is that we weren't done.  We had finished eating, though, so we decided that while Reid and Kai waited for Winnie the Pooh, Finn and I would head over to Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain to grab Fast Passes for Reid and Kai.  We did that and then headed back to meet them outside of the Buzz Lightyear ride where they had just finished.  Reid then took his ride on Space Mountain and we decided to split ways for a while as the big boys were off to ride the big rides.  While Reid and Kai rode Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean (Big Thunder Mountain broke down), Finn and I headed to Fantasyland.  We rode Dumbo, the carousel twice, It's a Small World, Peter Pan, and then Winnie the Pooh before meeting back up with Reid and Kai.  We headed back to Dumbo together where Reid and Kai used some Fast Passes we had and Finn and I went through the "10 minute" line.  Would you believe we all ended up on the same ride?!  So fun!  From there we grabbed some smoothies for "lunch" in Tomorrowland and then headed to the entrance to catch a ride back to the hotel for naps.  It was about 1:30pm.

This was the first day that Finn got a nap on our entire trip and he needed it!  We rested in the hotel for about 3 hours before heading back to the Magic Kingdom for the evening.  At the entrance we caught the train over to Adventureland and got off to check on Big Thunder Mountain.  Unfortunately the ride was still down and wasn't going to be opening for the rest of the day.  So we decided to grab some dinner and then head over to Fantasyland again.  We realized on our break that there was a roller coaster that Finn was tall enough for (that Kai did NOT want to ride) and Finn was so excited to be big enough.  So, Reid and Finn went through the line at the Barnstormer and Finn proved Reid wrong when he got on and enjoyed the ride!  In the meantime, Kai and I headed over to the big top circus to collect two last signatures--Daisy and Minnie Mouse.

Then we all met up and found ourselves spots for the Electrical Parade.  Reid was enticed by the long light-up swords and bought 3!  The boys were in heaven and the parade was simply magical.  From there we moved to the main square to await the evening fireworks.  It was fantastic and a great way to end a fun vacation.  The mood was truly magical and both boys were in awe!  The park remained open for another 45 minutes or so after the fireworks, but who would want to ruin the mood after that (and we had done everything we wanted, anyway)?!  So we headed back to the room for the night and got to bed.

Day 7--Friday November 2 was time to head home!  We got ready early, called the bell hop to help us to the bus station, checked into our flight--including baggage--right at the hotel (awesome service!) and then went to spend the remaining of our dining plan.  We loaded up on snacks at the gift shop and then got some quick-service breakfasts.  It was nice.  We were even early to our bus and ended up taking the earlier bus to the airport.  After lunch at the airport, we were off.  Our flight was uneventful and would you believe that Finn even leaned over mid-Ipad game and fell asleep on my lap?!  Poor thing had a long and exhausting week.

It was a fun trip.  Kai says it was his favorite vacation ever!  Finn asks once every couple of days to ride teacups or Peter Pan or a carousel!  The boys had a great time!  It wasn't always easy, but I do think it was worth it.  Yay for our family vacation to Disney World!

Our early morning at the park.  Finn is tired and had just heard that we had a character breakfast, so he began his pouting early.

Eeyore

Piglet

Tigger

So happy to be done with the characters that he was willing to wave goodbye!

Winnie the Pooh

Reid and Kai on the Buzz Lightyear ride

A parade

Reid and Kai on Splash Mountain

Daisy Duck

Minnie Mouse

The Electrical Parade was truly magical

Waving as everyone passed

Pete's Dragon

Because we were there at Halloween time these pumpkins were on every street lamp

A very fitting grand finale to our week at Disney World