Las Vegas trip

The kids and I had the chance to go to Las Vegas and spend sometime with my side. Almost all my siblings were there with their families. It was a crazy, but fun time! Unfortunately Jared couldn't come, because of work, but we still had fun without him. The kids did so much better traveling then I thought they would too. They did really well. I was extremely grateful for that.

We played lots with cousins

 I just had to add this one because I think it's hilarious. My sis took it during dinner our first night there.

 The kids loved aunt angie's ferret's.

 My other sister did bree's hair really cute a few times.

 We celebrated my mom's birthday. It was an early celebration, but a fun one at that! This is Ayden's first time playing "Don't Eat Pete" a game my family really likes! He totally devoured the m&m's once he realized he wasn't suppose to eat anymore lol total ayden move

 We did an easter egg hunt

We stuck in a girls time, pedicure and lunch too!

We absolutely had a blast!!!

Ayden's "Payne Day"

You may, or maybe not, remember that on the anniversary of the kid's adoption finalization, we like to celebrate "Payne Day" ... just a little celebration to honor them and when they legally joined our family. Ayden's "Payne Day" is April 16. Hard to believe that 3 years ago that little boy was just joining our family. Here's a video (Ayden Payne Day video) of Ayden's special day, courtesy of Jared's cousin.

This year we introduced Ayden to Chuck-E-Cheese. He LOVED it. I'm only going to post a few pics and one video, but it was definitely a hit of a celebration.

It was a great family time. And the pizza was better then Jared and I remembered it being! LOL

What to say about these last 3 years of being Ayden's legal mom. He has made me laugh so incredibly hard ... and yet made my want to go insane! Ayden is such a sweet, tender hearted boy. He loves people, especially his family. To see the joy he has when he notices I'm playing the piano in primary, or when he sees Bree after her few day hospital stay is so priceless. I love it! He has taught me so much about really trying to be in tuned to people's emotional needs. With his ADHD and SPD, a lot of times he cannot use words to tell us what he needs or wants. Best way to describe it is he looses all control of his body and emotions... so I have learned to really be in tune for his happiness, and mine. Ayden is so incredibly smart (I think) and inquisitive. I just love my little man and the never ending excitement he brings into our family!

WE LOVE YOU, AYDEN JOHN!!!!! So grateful you're a part of our eternal family!!!

April, where did you go?!?

April was a crazy busy/fun/blah month for us! lol I'm actually going to be doing a couple other, more specific post... Just FYI. This one I'll have as our general update.

Jared's company's product going public! Which means he can now talk a bit more about what he does at work all day! lol Not that I understand anyway, but it's awesome! They pretty much had a party week and celebrated. Jared's still busy as ever there and loving it. He's such a good day and the kids just LOVE when he comes home or when it's weekend. We saw Jared's mom, sister, and her family too!!!

My month was pretty typical... taking care of/snuggling kids, housework, etc. The kids and I went to Las Vegas Easter weekend (separate post coming). It was so fun spending time with my side. Only downfall was Jared wasn't there. We did a couple play dates with a dear friend of mine, which I LOVED and very much needed! Thanks again Emily! Oh and I did go on a field trip with Ayden's school. We picked up trash at a local park. The kids did surprisingly really well with it. I was impressed.

Oh, my Ayden. He actually has been my trial lately. A few days after we got back from Las Vegas, we totally took him out of diapers. He had been waking up dry (nap and bedtime) so we figured he didn't need them anymore. Ever since then he just has been majorly hard to take care of. I'm thinking the change got to him... even though it wasn't like a major change (such as moving) and so he's not sleeping as well. He is doing better now, but we're still working on his behaviors. He is learning and developing like crazy! It's actually been fun to watch him become even more of a little boy. And let me tell you, he's ALL boy. Rocks, sticks, water, robots, etc... He loves it. We celebrated his 3rd "Payne Day" but that'll get it's own separate post as well. He's not really doing well in the gymnastics, but we're going to start trying a parent participation one. I think the class he was in doesn't have enough structure for him but the actual sport will be good. And I think that's about it for this handsome dude!

On to the princess! She's had a weird month too, to be honest. Let's start with mile stones! She's now in a twin bed! And she's doing really well. Fallen once and that's it. She's very good about staying in it when she's hooked up to her IV too. I've been happy about that. She also got her ears pierced! Jared wanted to wait until she asked, and truly knew what she was asking for. After months of saying she wanted earrings like mommy has earrings... He decided she knew. She did pretty well with the actual piercing, she's done well with not messing with them, letting us clean them... She's getting to be a little girl. Some ways, so hard to believe but so ... relieving, to be honest. No one ever thought she'd get there. Anyway~ those are her real noticeable mile stones. Medically is where it's been blah. She's down to 11 hours on her IV!! Which is great!!! She's about 28 pounds now. We're able to push a total of about 32 oz or so of formula a day. Where her month's been rocky is... she's been throwing up at least twice a day for about 2 weeks now. We started her on a medication that helps the motility of her intestines yesterday... I can already see the difference!! She only actually threw up only once today (few nausea spells, but she held it in like a champ!). She also had a few bloody poops (which is why it took us so long to figure out the motility med issue)! They ran test and kept her for observation for 24 hours, but decided she was okay to come home. I talked to her regular dr... He scoped her to see if he could find a source of the bleeding. He didn't find a source, but he did see inflammation at the top of her intestines that he thinks is from her stomach acidity. He's going to put her on another antacid and see if that helps. So we'll see what the month of May holds for our little miss Bree. Overall though, she really is doing amazingly well.

That about sums up our April! How you all had a happy easter and a great month too!! Love to all.