why hello!

So yes... I have been a slacker in the blogging department. I have been trying to focus more on my family, house work while kids sleep and Jared's at work, and getting to bed at a more reasonable time. Doesn't leave much time for facebook, blogging, etc. But you know, I've been alright with that. Personally, I feel like I've been handling my kids better, haven't been as tired, and overall happier... Jared may disagree but at least I'm trying, right? Anyway~ here's a brief update on what we've been up to:

Jared's still keeping busy at work, loving it, and doing great at it! I can't ever really tell you much because he doesn't say much, and what he does say I don't quite get. I know he can't say much either because the company still hasn't gone public. Anyway~ church wise. He's in the nursery... we both are... and Jared is amazing at it. Kids just flock to him. It's so fun to watch. I definitely married a keeper. He's been sick a few times this year, but nothing major, thankfully!

 I still spend my days running the house. I might have mentioned this, but I found as long as I stick to my schedule and routine, I manage. Like I said, I've tried doing things a bit different. I think it's helping, but we'll see. As far as church, like I mentioned, I'm in the nursery... and I'm a visiting teaching district supervisor. I love it! I love visiting teaching (Thanks Mom!) and I love being able to get to know the sisters in my district and hopefully help. I think I've been sick a couple times, but luckily not like the rest of the family. But then again, mom's aren't allowed to get sick, right? ;o) :oP

 My little Ayden. He is my Mr. Smarty. He loves to ask questions, even if he knows the answer to it. I'm not sure how much of it, but he recognizes most of the upper case alphabet (we're going to start working on lower case), he can count to 12 on his own, and is loving books! He loves watching shows and loves just playing. He actually switched preschools in Nov. (The old one had to close for the rest of the school year due to leasing problems) and he has been enjoying it so much more! I'm thinking of putting him in 2 days a week next school year. He's our hard one because of his sensory. We've been trying to focus in on it more, and help him manage it more. His stuttering has improved with therapy we've been doing. I think he's becoming more aware of it too. He's still about 24-25 pounds... we won't see the dr., know a next step until beginning of March. OH! I don't think I've mentioned he's potty trained! Jared really focused on it one weekend, and that's pretty much all it took. Very few accidents (thank you sensory! :oP ). He still needs a diaper at nap and bedtime, but that's it. He's had a rough winter of getting sick, but overall has handled it like a champ. He's done much better since we got him on a round of antibiotics a while back. Church wise he's now in sunbeams and loves it. He's handling it pretty well too. Today I substituted for the primary pianist, didn't say a thing to him, and to see his face when he realized it was me behind the piano was priceless! Luckily, his teacher was able to calm him down pretty quick lol. I think that about sums up Ayden.

Oh my princess Breeann. Her talking is awesome! She's smart too, but definitely not as knowledge hungry as Ayden. Bree is our funny one (as in she's got a good sense of humor) and our tease. She is very much the type to slow down and enjoy life. I admit, drives me nuts! When it takes her forever to eat, or to do a simple task!!! Something I know I've got to let her do, and I need to learn to deal with... but it's so hard!! Anyway~ She gave us a glimpse of hope with potty training for a couple days, but decided she didn't want to. We're not pushing it either... she's gotta be able to control SOMETHING in her life, right? As far as her eating... it's going okay overall. She's very scared to try new things... and she doesn't like to chew (although she can chew just fine now), but we're all getting there. We can normally get her to eat at least a little something 3-4 times a day. She's getting 9 ounces of formula a day too. She's now on 12 hours of IV every night!! I think that's amazing, considering this time 2 years ago she was on 22 hours! She's not quite gaining weight like her dietitian would like, but Bree's now at the age that they don't gain much away. She's at 26 pounds... so she's heavier then Ayden! All of Bree's blood work is within normal range now... including her liver function!! (which is awesome since it was elevated... her IV fluids do that) In fact, they're slowing cutting back, taking things out of her IV solution... which is a good sign. Looking at Bree, you'd think she was a normal 2 year old girl. Until you look close and see her IV, feeding tube, and bruised looking right side neck area (That's from new artery routes forming to make up for the one blocked off). She has set AMAZING records for herself... her last true line infection was end of Apr.! So coming up on a year! And her last hospital admission was Halloween... she was discharged the day before. Luckily, she hasn't been as sick as we were expecting her to be this winter. She got hit really hard Christmas Eve, ended up taking her to the ER with a 102 fever... but they never found anything and she was better in like 4 or so days. She's still very much allergic to milk, but it's getting better. She can tolerate it cooked in things... and it's looking like she can handle it processed, like cheese. But she cannot tolerate it, if much isn't done to it, like yogurt. We haven't played with her egg or peanut allergy. She's loving nursery and church. She's generally a happy, loving girl!

Think that about sums us up! :o) hopefully i'll get better at keeping up this blog... feel free to bug me if I go a while without a post :oP Love you all and hope you all are doing well too!!!