To my first born son

Birthday Party fun!
Opening your birthday presents
Happy 4th Birthday!
Happy 3rd Birthday William!
Happy 2nd Birthday!
Happy 1rst Birthday!
Welcome William.....best gift ever.
Your Birthday! So little.....but so strong.
Oh William. Four whole years. That doesn't seem possible. I can close my eyes and remeber the day we first met you. There were tears on that day as well. William, you know you made me wait in misery for days, to meet you. And then the world shifted, and you could no longer wait to meet us, not one more minute. Your heart was beating so slowly, and if I had known what I know now I would have been terrified, but we were so excited to meet you face to face. We knew all along you would be whisked off to the warmer, where there was a team of ladies waiting to meet you and make sure all was well. So I was suprised when you were born and set on my tummy. I was a nurse before I was ever your mom, and on your video I can hear myself telling your daddy to cut the chord so they could help you on that warmer. I didn't hear "It's a boy" or compliments on how cute you were, or even your cry. I heard talk of your heart rate, of what size tube to use, and I remember my OB telling me she had become an aunt earlier that same day. I remember telling your daddy to take a few pictures of you before they replaced the breathing tube. It's funny how it all came out of my mouth without even thinking of it, it just made sense. Those pics were a favorite with your cousins who didn't care for all of the tubes it took to help you. You have demanded our attention since the very day we met you, and we wouldn't have it any other way. That determination is why you are here, and not to be taken for granted. You are so strong, I am so proud of you. If they haven't heard your story, no one would believe how much you have overcome. You have only one small physical scar (on your hand from a PICC line) to remind us of your NICU stay. Another birthday my dear boy, to remind us just what a beautiful gift you are, how thankful we are to have you here with us, and that you continue to teach me how precious life is.
This year you have grown so much. You talk (alot)and we understand you. You don't even weigh five pounds more than your little brother. You have become the picky eater most moms talk about, and claim not to like things before you even see them. You love soup, and popsicles (which still sounds like pockle;) You have fallen in love with chocolate this year, and prefer you smores as a bar of chocolate and bag of marshmallows. You enjoy art, especially drawing and painting. You love everything Iron Man or Transformers. You can ride your bike all by yourself. You are totally potty trained, not a single accident after going to big boy underwear for good. Your favorite outfit is any pair of superhero underwear and nothing else. Except gloves, you still love gloves, even in August. You have become the best big brother this year. You have the biggest heart. I feel sorry for the first kid who picks on your little brother. Tristan thinks you are the best thing around.....and he's right! You are starting to really enjoy cooking, and enjoy helping out your daddy with supper. You really like Legos, and have quite the imagination. You have been looking forward to this birthday since March when we celebrated Grandpa Dauner's & Mommy's birthdays. You are convinced you have enough birthday money to buy a toy store.
You are the best present ever William. How did we ever get so lucky? Happy Fourth Birthday William.

Summer Fun

Just a few pics of our beautiful boys at the playground and beach. William LOVES the water. Tristan LOVES the sand.
I love these two so much!

Happy Easter

Hope that all of you readers had a happy Easter weekend! We started the celebrating the weekend before Easter. We took the boys to see "Hop" which they both enjoyed. It had some pretty good music & I think they both liked Easter Island (which is where all the CANDY is made for Easter :). We let the boys open their Easter baskets from both of their sets of grandparents. Our children don't want for anything~ if anything I would call them slightly spoiled! Then I worked Easter weekend, but luckily it was a quiet weekend. I was blessed with the day off on Sunday so we got to spend the day together. The boys & I dyed Easter eggs together. Here's Tristan learning how to dye Easter eggs. He didn't care for the egg holder, it just went right into his mouth. Notice the yellow-green fingers, and lips~ silly boy! He must think vinegar tastes good, because he tried to taste a few of the colors. He would roll the egg with his fingers, dip them in the color and then look around before licking them off. He thought he was pretty funny!


William is an egg dying pro. He strongly believes that he should get as much color on each egg as possible. He did a great job, and had a great time doing so. William is wearing his favorite outfit in these pictures. He is totally a three year old boy and prefers to wear as little as possible. Of course we have the weather on our side now, as he loves to be outside, and obviously has to wear clothes to be outdoors.


The end result: Eight beautiful eggs!

We had blueberry pancakes and ham for Easter brunch. Of course there were a few pancake bunnies after I asked if that was what he was making us! We were very lucky to be able to have breakfast all together~ and to have Jeremy cook for us!

Then the boys got to search for their easter eggs in the backyard, they had a blast! This was Tristan's first year finding eggs, but he caught on pretty quickly. He was very interested in what was in each egg so he had alot less eggs in his basket than William. He was really proud & happy when he found the last few eggs though. Tristan got the biggest smile for the egg that looked like a soccer ball, and he put it right down to kick it. William remembered what to do and after some encouragement was helping Tristan pick up eggs. William was really proud of all the eggs he crawled around to find! And really excited for CANDY!!






We spent the afternoon hiking at WhiteWater State Park. It was a beautiful day. Finally it may be springtime!!





Before bed the boys found their Easter baskets, making that #4 for each of them. Oh yeah there was plenty of candy, toys and books to be had for all. They were both excited about their new superhero t-shirts and videos, turns out the Easter bunny has good taste!
So all in all it was a lovely day that we weren't expecting to be spending together which made it even more special. Hope you also had a blessed Easter.

Hiking Fun

We took our first hiking trip out at WhiteWater State Park this spring. We had a great trip. Now if Spring would only come to stay! This time Tristan was very interested in everything & enjoyed running around and exploring after he was released from the backpack. He loves the ride & doesn't complain at all, but has finally decided it is fun to move around on his own. William is alot more daring this year & thought we should take the "shortcut" down the hill, which is basically a ravine you could fall down. You would quickly get to the bottom, but I'm pretty sure that's not a preferred trail there! He was not so easily convinced otherwise. He also likes to walk a few steps and then jump, so I nearly had a million heart attacks. Jeremy would probably say I was over reacting, but I really prefer none of us take the "shortcuts" down the hill!
A hike down memory lane



I thought the last time we had been hiking at WhiteWater State Park was last fall, but apparently it was the beginning of May 2010. It doesn't seem that long ago but here are two pics from almost a year ago! I don't usually post pics where I look so terrible, but I guess at least I can say it was a year ago. This was our first time hiking with both boys. My crazy husband carried Tristan in the Bjorn & William in the backpack. I did end up carrying William because he had fallen asleep & I didn't want to wake him to put him in the pack. It was a short nap and he was back to running along with us. What a difference a year makes!

Obviously I can't believe how quickly time goes by! A few words about the kids for those of you wondering:
Tristan is now 15monts old. I don't think that's even possible but we were in for his checkup so I guess it's for real! He weighs 28lbs, but has been that heavy for the past 4 months. He's a great eater, but is becoming a toddler and doesn't eat everything in front of him. If he likes what he's offered, he can eat as much as his Mamma(and usually way more than his brother) but if he doesn't, the plate will promptly be dumped on the floor. He can say a few words, Mamma, Dadda, All done, NONONO. Sometimes it feels like I am saying the last word continuously between him & his brother, I have to try to say it in other words. He's really taken off walking this month & can even stagger a run. Tristan aka"the terror" loves to empty everything, take things apart, and pick things up again. He is happy and always laughing. He may have gotten my sarcasm though because he laughs at some bizarre things. He is going to be our super villian and loves the movie Despicable Me....he just can't stop laughing, it's too cute.

William is three and a half already.....crazy! He's very three years old. Any of you with 3yr olds know exactly what I mean! His vocabulary has bloomed this year. He doesn't hesitate to tell you exactly what he wants, even though it's unlikely that he's going to get it. This month he LOVES the toystore, but is still upset that we forgot Captain America's sisters (aka fellow superheroes) there. Even when I explain we left them there on purpose, it's not the end of it. He is going to be Spiderman, Iron Man or a PowerRanger when he grows up. Only when he's not using his superhero powers he's going to be wearing a stethoscope? I'm not sure about that, he doesn't truly understand what I do when I go to work, and he does NOT like the doctor (even though the nurses give the shots :). His favorite color is green, but don't buy him anything green because that really means he LOVES red. William is excited for spring so he can play tball & soccer in the backyard.

Jeremy and I are doing well. Mostly working & living the life with the kids. We are so blessed. We are excited for spring so we won't be cooped up in the house all day long, everyday! Maybe sometime soon! Hopefully it won't be so long before the next update but I can't promise anything.