Lately...

So.. I've found some stuff to talk about. Actually, I have found A LOT of stuff to talk about. I'm going to put it all into one post because well, I'm lazy! So, this is going to be looong and filled with pictures but trust me it will be so worth your time ;) haha probably not but I feel less guilty now that I'm actually writing about something. Plus Brody is a sicky today, he's made a home in my bed and has been watching movies all day and Mia is napping so I finally feel like I have time to sit in front of this computer!! Anyway... this is what we have been up to lately.

We went to Red Rock over the weekend and had a blast. It was such a beautiful day out and we were sick of being in the house, so my mom and us headed out to do some hiking. We couldn't do anything too incredibly strenuous with the kids and all but we had a good time. This particular trail we took was suppose to have water and a waterfall at the end but it was all dry when we got there, only a small like trickle from above. Brody really enjoyed himself though, and so did Mia, she gets quite the ride :) When we arrived at the end of the trail, we ate our packed lunch and explored a little bit then headed back down the trail. It was a really pretty day and I'm glad we decided to go!

(notice the ruggrats probably having more fun in the back of the car then the actual hike)

Monday, was Donnie's first day back at work. It was a very exciting day :) It's been almost 4 months since he worked. He has been very anxious to get back there and start to get back in the groove of things again. He is on light duty right now, so he is in the office and not out on the flight line, but he will be out there before he knows it. He still needs to take it easy, everything else will come with time. He is so glad to be back at work {the 5:30am alarm clock, not so much} but glad either way. I'm just overjoyed that he is healthy enough and feeling well enough to return back to work. 4 months ago, I never would have imagined that he would be feeling this well this fast. He is definitely an answered prayer! 

Brody beat Skylanders! I'm not sure if I have talked about this before but my mom bought Brody this "Skylander" game for Christmas. We really had no idea what it was when she bought it, we just thought cool, a fun game for the Wii! Boy, were we wrong. This game has these figurines that play with you on the game, so you put the certain player on this "portal" thing and then you switch out guys as you die... anyway, these figurines are like Cabbage Patch dolls in the 80's. You can't find them ANYWHERE!! Sometimes, I find myself going to 3 or 4 stores in one day just to see if they got a shipment (I know, I know, its a problem) So anyway, we have been playing this game for months and Brody finally beat the Whole game. I only let him play for a little bit each day so when he finally beat it, he was very proud of himself! The first thing he said was "Mom, can I call Dad and tell him I beat the WHOLE thing?" Haha funny boy!

We started a few weeks ago with Valentines Day stuff. Brody needed to start early making Valentines and collecting 13 hearts for his heart collection at school. Every year for Valentines Day the kids bring 13 of the same heart (can be anything that is a heart and about the size of your hand) and hand made Valentines Cards. The hearts are a really cool idea because all the kids bring home so many different hearts from each one of their classmates. Brody and I started early making Valentines cards because he has just started to really write his name, so I wanted to give him plenty of time to complete them and not feel too much pressure to get too many done at one time. I think he did the best job and we had an awesome time doing them!

The hearts on the bottom are what he brought for the heart collection.

I just love this picture of them.
Totally shows their personalities! 

Valentines Day morning, was of course on a school day and those days are always a little bit of a rush. This day in particular, Brody decided he waned to sleep in, (which is like a lunar eclipse in our house, rarely happens) and I had pink pancakes and these cute little mailboxes with some goodies shoved in them waiting for him and Mia. I finally was able to get him out of bed and he was pleasantly surprised by what he found! Mia was definitely more excited about the food but that's our Moosie :) I really wanted them to enjoy their morning, so I let the rush go and we just ate our pancakes, laughed a little, got dressed, took a few pictures and we were still able to make it to school on time. Yayy for us! I had the best morning with them. I love to make silly holidays fun for them. Most day are pretty boring, normally just filled with the everyday stuff. It was nice to take the time to make just a normal day special!

I took a few picture when Brody arrived at school. Mrs. Fitz made it a really fun day for all of them. She even had special buckets for their Valentines and their heart collection! Mia was enjoying herself too! All the little girls in Brody's class love when she comes in. I think maybe I should just start leaving her with them, no body would notice, right?!

Donnie and I decided to stay home for Valentines Day. I feel like the older I get the more I enjoy just being at home. We had no desire to pack into a restaurant just because that's what you're "suppose to do" for Valentines Day! For Christmas, Donnie's mom gave us a Lobster-Gram, so we decided to do that instead. {perfect day for it} A Lobster-Gram is like this website you go to and pick all this food and they send it to you and you cook it. And obviously, their specialty is Lobster, but unfortunately, I dislike Lobster. Lucky for me though, they have other stuff like crab and filet and scallops and stuff. We decided on the crab, which I LOVE!! It's actually a pretty cool deal, I got the crab and some other goodies I ordered at my door that day. I made some other things to go with dinner and desserts and wine of course, we had the best night. (I even got a massage for a gift! Which I enjoyed last night, while Donnie stayed home and did all the bedtime stuff, yayy for me! Thanks babe :) I'm so glad we decided to stay in with the kids. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend Valentines night! 

{and of course heart grilled cheese for Brody, because he probably wouldn't eat Crab if it was the last food on Earth}{ also, don't mind Donnie's lack of eyebrows, all of his hair has decided not to grow back}

Told ya this was gonna be long.... almost done!

I let the kids play with the dry ice that came in the crab box. I know what you are thinking.. No, I didn't let them play with the actual ice, I put it in a large pot with water. I thought they would think that it was as cool as I think it is and they did!! I'm not quite sure how safe it is or if it's still considered ok to do but whatever we had a blast for at least 30 minutes or so and Brody even got a science lesson out of it and Mia thought it was the coolest thing ever! And nobody died ;)

I have had "clean out the toy room" on my list of to-do's for a while now and I finally just checked it off! Yesterday, the kids and I decided it was time to tackle that thing. And when I say tackle, I mean it took us 4 hours, 4 donation boxes and 3 trash bags. It also included, lots of crying, tons of "I don't want to do this anymore" and many, "are we done yets?" But in the end it is clean and organized. The kids were actually very helpful and they did an excellent job, minus the few minor meltdown. One down, 25 on the list to go :)

Disaster.

Impressive.

Last but not least....
A few days ago Brody was playing with a Dino and I could hear him talking to himself. He said to this Dino, "oh, you like to blog?" "Yeah, you blog all the time!"
Haha what the heck?! I don't even blog that much, I can barely get one post a week!
He is a funny boy, made me laugh!

Writers block.

I seriously have a case of writers block. I started this blog to keep family and friends in the loop with what was going on with Donnie. Every once in awhile I would throw in some other stuff about the kids and fun things we were doing and not so fun things but for the most part the theme was always Donnie. I feel like all I know what to write about is him. So now I have no idea what to write about! I know that is not something to complain about, obviously! I mean I'm so glad I don't have to write about him anymore but I literally live the most boring life, nothing "post" worthy ever really happens. The most exciting thing that happens in a day is if Mia takes a extra long nap or Brody ate his WHOLE lunch or if all the dishes get cleaned in the sink. I guess I'm having a hard time adjusting back to "normal", I'm struggling to find our routine again. All of last year felt like limbo, we never knew what to expect next and every day different challenges arose. But now it's kinda just blah... I guess my writing is just mirroring my life right now, a little confused, a little "where to begin". I'm sure I will eventually get back in the swing of things but right now I have nothing to talk about!

I do want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has stuck by me (and us) through all of this. The last year has been so incredibly difficult and I appreciate everyone's support. Sorry for my flakiness and absent-ness (probably not a word :) and complaining and all the other really great stuff that came along with it. Without all the help from you guys I don't think we would have ever made it through. <3

Day 30.

I guess the key to blogging is staying consistent but I am so inconsistent. I do really good for like 4 days and then I fall of the map for a week and then I get a few good post in every day and then I slack off again. So, you'll have to bear with me because this will probably be a long post. I have a lot to catch-up on since the last time I was on here. 

We've been home for almost 2 weeks now and it has flown by. It feel like just yesterday that we were sitting in a hospital room in California. It has been wonderful starting to get back to normal. We have been playing lots of catch-up since we've been home. Trying to tie up all the loose ends I didn't have time for over the last few months, which has made for a busy couple weeks. We are really enjoying being home again though, nothing like some mundane everyday life to feel normal again. Donnie is starting to get back to normal himself too. He has officially made it to Day 30. This day seemed so far in the future just a month or so ago that I can't believe it's already here. We made it, it's almost surreal. Donnie has been doing so great though, I'm really proud of him! He finally was able to get his tubes and port removed last Friday. It was a pretty quick surgery, nothing too major, just some anesthesia and a few stitches. He was over the moon to get all that junk out of him, he was sick of having those tubes constantly hanging out of him. {he's had them in since the beginning of December, can you believe it's been that long?} Donnie has also been able to gain some weight, a whole whooping 4 lbs. That's a lot in the post transplant world! We also had to travel down to California on Wednesday, for another check up with Dr. Morbacher. We drove down in the morning and then drove back after the appointment (with a quick pit stop at Aunt Lu's). It was a long day, but it was filled with good news. Dr. Morbacher said that he is doing excellent. All of his blood work looks great and he looks great. He won't have to go back for another office visit for 3 more weeks. Donnie has been very insistent on going back to work and she said that he would be fine to do so in a couple weeks. Normally, they recommend 4-6 months after transplant to return to working. Since he is doing so well and his work will be able to keep him in the office instead of out on the flight line then she said he would be fine. So Donnie will be back in the work force as of February 13th. He is actually really excited to get back at it. It's going to be hard for him to start waking at 5:30am again but I think he will manage. He is still just tired and a little wore out but he has been trying just to do a little bit more everyday. Walk a little more, wake up a little bit earlier. I'm just so thankful that he has the job and bosses that he has. They have been really amazing working with him. I can't imagine if he didn't have a job that was understanding to his situation. They have just been so much of a help through all of this! Slowly but surely we are getting back to life as we knew it. 

As for me, I am free for girls night's and play date's and birthday parties and lunch's again so feel free to drop me a line ;) Ha ha I kid, I kid, not really but I can't sound too desperate. I have literally felt so out of the loop the last couple month that I am ready to be back in the loop!

As for the kids, they are doing great, just going about life as usual. Brody is still loving school and loving Karate even more. He even was accepted to this really awesome charter school for Kindergarten. I was really hoping he would get in and with a little bit of diligence on my part he did {I stayed up till midnight just to register him right when online registration opened, it is first come, first serve.} Even though it's still about 7 months away, I'm really excited for him. I think it is a pretty great school and I think he will thrive there. Plus it's close to the house and free! Can't believe that little boy of mine will be in Kindergarten. 

Mia's first Gymnastics class.

Mia is quite the little handful. She still isn't talking but heck, she doesn't need to, you know exactly what she is thinking by her facial expressions. One day she'll talk I guess {maybe when I can grow a back bone and take her pacifier out of her mouth, man, I'm a such a good mom ;)} She actually started gymnastics a few weeks ago but I never got around to posting about it. I wasn't able to go to her first class with her but my Aunt was able to take her, but I was able to take her to all her other classes. Brody has karate class at the same time and Mia and I would always just wait for him in the lobby. So, I figured why not have her do something too. She is adorable and we have so much fun. She was a little apprehensive at first but now she is all about it! She loves dancing and doing somersaults and just about everything there. She even does the toddler balance beam all by herself, no assistance. I am pretty impressed, I didn't think she would be able to do half the stuff she's doing. Her teacher even called her a "natural". I am a pretty proud mommy! She is seriously the sweetest little girl. Time sure does go by fast. 

Life is slowly starting to feel like it use to and it's a really awesome feeling!