Beamovi

Christmas in Utah

2012-01-15T11:09:00.013-06:00

The day we left for our Christmas trip to Utah, I was in charge of Big C's school holiday party. It was chaotic fun and Big C told me he was sure that the "real" Santa and Mrs. Claus were at his party because Santa's beard was actually attached to his face.After 2 1/2 days in the car (25 hours) we finally arrived in Utah, just in time for Big C's birthday! We celebrated with all our family at Planet Play and everyone had a great time

Nanny was being silly!
Little C enjoying her pizza

N at the party

All my family was there

And many of K's family came

Big C and his Utah cousins, Troy and Sadie, who he hardly ever gets to see!

My cousin, Emily, came to the party. It was her birthday, too!

We visited lots of friends, some of which we didn't get pictures with. We were able to visit with my mission president, President and Sister Tobler. That was awesome. I missed my 10 year mission reunion, so I was glad to be able to see them and reminisce about our days in Poland together.

I saw my kindred spirit, Melissa. I miss her!

And our kids got to play together

And we got to see our dear friends the Sartori's several times. We were glad that K got to participate in their new baby's blessing while we were there.

We love them and always wish we lived closer to each other so we could see each other more often.

We loved the cold weather for a change. It really felt like Christmas to me. We went to a live nativity one night and you can't tell from the pictures but it was snowing and cold. Big and Little C loved playing in the snow but by the time the night was over they were so cold. Big C told me he didn't want to be in any more snow!

It was fun to get bundled up, I forgot a hat so I had to borrow my Dad's hat. Oh well, it kept me warm!

One of the most memorable events of the vacation was our trip to Jump On It, a bounce house with lots of trampolines. N loved it.

and so did Little C until she broke her leg!! She was on a trampoline and a teenager jumped off a platform and double bounced her and broke her leg. My lot in life is to spend my days in ERs and doctor's offices and being on vacation, I guess, is no exception to that rule! I half way expected to be in the ER for N sometime on the trip but never expected to have to take Little C.

She was little trooper and had to be in a splint for a week and couldn't walk. But as you can see, she dealt with it really well. A week later she got a purple cast on her leg and could walk on it after that. We are so grateful it wasn't worse and that she didn't have to have surgery or anything.

We had family pictures taken with both sides of the family and they turned out great. Here's me with my family.

and K with his family

then just our family

and our cute kids

I love this picture of Little C

and this one of N

We had Christmas Eve at Nanny and Papa's house

N entertained himself by playing with empty wrapping paper rolls. He loved it.

We had a yummy dinner

A fun treasure hunt for all the grandkids

that took them all over the house to find clues for Grandpa's Grab Bag

And all the grandkids gave Papa a big hug for all the gifts in his Grab Bag.

We had a cousin gift exchange and sang some hymns and read the Christmas story from the Bible. We had a wonderful night.

Christmas morning we went to church. Here's Little C in her Christmas dress.

then opened presents

Big C was most excited about his Pokemon cards

and the Leapster 2.

Little C loved her pink pony

and her Elmo backpack.

N liked his baton

and the mittens kept him entertained for awhile.

Santa also delivered a trampoline for N back at home, it was too big to transport to Utah!

K was excited about his new boots until he discovered he couldn't get them on his feet so we had to take them back. We had a wonderful Christmas Day and it was so great to be with all of our family!

We did so many other activities that were so fun that I didn't take any pictures of like iceskating, movies, lunch with friends, an acapella concert, family dinners, a BYU basketball game, bowling, just to name a few. We had to say good-bye to Grandma and Grandpa a day before our trip was over, they went to California for a wedding. It was so good to spend time with them.

We spent our last night at a Walton family Christmas party and saw many people we hadn't seen in years. It was fun.

It's always hard to say good-bye and head for home

Because we never know when we will see everyone again.

But we had a great time and are so glad that we made it for the holidays. We love you all. Thanks for making our vacation so fun and memorable!!

Christmas already?

2011-12-11T09:44:00.005-06:00

Where did this year go? I can't believe it's already Christmas time!!

We've been to a few Chirstmas parties already. Our neighborhood had a breakfast with Santa and a little carnival and it was all free. It was great. There was a mini ferris wheel that Big C and Little C liked.And a mini carousel that made me really dizzy but N loved it.

We got to ride a camel.

And a donkey. N wasn't too sure about being on the donkey but the other kids liked it.

There was a little train as well. It was a fun morning.

We had our church Christmas party. I was actually in charge of it this year and it turned out really fun. We did the Polar Express, so everyone came in their PJs. The kids loved it.I was an "elf helper" so I didn't get to wear my PJs. It was a lot of work but I'm glad that it turned out so well and that everyone seemed to have a good time.Little C and Big C in their santa hats by the tree. I love that we have a bay window to put our tree in this year. It looks so pretty from outside.The facility that we take N to for therapy had a Christmas party as well. This time I actually got a picture of the kids sitting with Santa. N did not like it at all, although you can't really tell from this picture, and Little C was so scared she wouldn't even approach Santa unless I held her. Oh well, maybe they'll be better next year.

Merry Christmas!!

Lots of pictures

2011-11-28T16:14:00.005-06:00

Big C finished his soccer season. He had a great teamand he really liked his coach, Eduardo.Little C had her birthday. I can't believe how old and big she is getting, it seems like just the other day she was born and was so tiny!! we got her a booster seat so she can be a big girl and sit at the table instead of in her high chair.

a stroller with twin babies (which she loves!) and my Mom sent a few other gifts that were big hits, too. She named her babies Baby Bebe and Baby Yaya.

We celebrated her birthday in Dallas at my sister's house with her cousins. I made her an Elmo cake which she was excited about.She had a hard time blowing out the candles but her cousins and brother were right there to help her out.

She thoroughly enjoyed the cake!

She is such a sweet little girl and we are so blessed to have her in our family. Happy Birthday Little C!

We had Thanksgiving with my sister and her family. We have so much to be thankful for and we were especially thankful to be able to be with family.Here's the kids table, we made "thankful turkeys" for place cards.

And the adult table.

Here's us enjoying our Thanksgiving feast. The food was so delicious and the company was even better.

K longing for a piece of pie...they really were so good!

K entertaining the girls, he can always make the kids laugh.

We went to a train display in a mall in Dallas. The tickets were a little expensive but all the proceeds went to benefit the Ronald McDonald House, so it was worth it. That place will always be very significant and special to us!

We had a great time and are so thankful for our blessings. Hope ya'll had a great Thanksgiving, too.

Happy Halloween

2011-11-01T19:48:00.006-05:00

We had a fun Halloween, the weather was nice and there were so many kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. K stayed home with N to answer the door and he ran out of candy there were so many kids. He had to turn our porch light off before the trick-or-treaters were done.

Big C was a skeletonN was a spiderLittle C was a pumpkinWe went trick-or-treating with our neighbors and it got a little rowdy but the kids had a lot of fun. This was Little C's first year trick-or-treating and she loved it. She wanted to keep going even after Big C was tuckered out. Little C and Elana stuck together since the big kids left them behind in the dust.Jonah and Big C, showing off their costumes.
Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Half Marathon and SYTYCD

2011-10-25T20:16:00.006-05:00

K ran his first half marathon last weekend in Huntsville. It started early so all the kids were still in their PJs when we dropped him off.He's been training for months but said it was pretty brutal because the course was full of hills. He set a goal to finish in 2 and 1/2 hours and despite the hills, his finishing time was 2 hours and 34 minutes. It was awesome!! Here he is coming down the home stretch while his family cheered him on across the finish line. This is right after he finished, he was super sweaty and tired but felt pretty good.

Anyone who finished the race under 3 hours got a metal but Big C didn't know that and thought it was so cool that his Daddy won a shiny metal. He was announcing to all the people around, "My Daddy won a gold metal!!"

K worked hard and we are very proud of him and this awesome accomplishment!

Those of you that know me know that I am a huge fan of the show So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD). So, for my birthday, my dear sister bought K and I tickets to the 2011 season tour in Dallas. It was awesome.It would have been even better if we wouldn't have been 40 minutes late because we got stuck in traffic on Loop 635 and if we didn't have two really hyper and obnoxious teenagers sitting behind us who screamed their high-pitched blood curdling screams right in our ears the whole performance!! Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks Wu for such a great birthday gift!

We also got to spend time with my sister and her family. Our cute girls are at the age where they finally want to play together. It's fun to watch. Here they are in their Halloween outfits.This was Little C's first year carving pumpkins, she wasn't quite sure about the slimy texture of the pumpkin innards but put her hands in it anyway.

Big C also didn't like getting his hands dirty with pumpkin slime

But the final product turned out good and we had fun.

what's been going on

2011-10-09T10:15:00.004-05:00

Over the last month we've been busy but I don't really even know with what. Just life I guess, crazy how that happens. When one of us gets sick, we all get sick, no matter how hard I try, it just is inevitable with little kids. N has been sick off and on (more on than off) ever since he started school, therefore so have the rest of us. I know that it's pretty normal for kids to get sick when they start school because they get exposed to so many more germs, but I have to say that I'm really tired of diarrhea, moans and groans and runny noses. Plus, it takes N longer to get over sicknesses and germs that aren't a big deal for my other kids, turn into big ordeals for N. Thankfully we've only had one ER visit so far for dehydration!

Big C started soccer again and is doing better this season and enjoying it more. K didn't have to be the coach this time, another Dad with a little more soccer experience stepped up! Here's Big C with his friend, Wade.

And after working for 6 months to make this happen, N finally got his wheelchair. It was a little anticlimactic, however, because since the company measured him in March and it's now October, he had grow and gotten too big for the chair! We have to have them come back out and try to adjust things to see if he will fit in it or if we just need a bigger size. Plus, he's walking now and doesn't really even need it as much as he used to. It will still be helpful for transportation purposes, especially for school.

Our car broke down...twice. We knew it was coming since our car is 12 years old. It's been a really good car and after $850, it's running again. That's probably more than the car is even worth. Oh well, it's worth it to us to not have a car payment.

I've spent most of my time at doctor's appointments and therapy for N, but that's nothing new. On my way downtown the other day for an appointment, I got pulled over in the HOV lane and was clocked going 58 mph in a 45 mph zone. I honestly thought the speed limit was 60 mph and didn't even see a speed limit sign. I tried my best to explain it to the cop without sounding pathetic or oblivious, but he didn't even listen to me at all and gave me a $200 ticket!!! That definitely wasn't a good start to a day of doctor's appointments and 8 diapers of diarrhea (and that didn't include Little C's diapers)!!

Otherwise, we are hanging in there...praying for rain and cooler weather and trusting God that he knows what he's doing with our lives. When you have faith, everything works out for the best in the end.

Lost Tooth and Kemah

2011-09-11T20:02:00.005-05:00

Big C lost a tooth! Those who know him don't even need me to say that he was so excited. He put his tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy who brought him a dollar and he was disappointed. He wanted a new toothbrush!My cousin, Emily, came to visit for the Labor Day weekend. We hadn't seen her for along time so we had a good time having her with us. We went to Kemah and had a great time. The weather was beautiful, a little windy, but I'll take wind over scorching heat.We rode some rides which the kids lovedLittle C liked it despite her scowl!

N especially liked the carousel

and they liked the ferris wheel

Big C got to ride some rides with EmilyBig C thought this ride was a spaceship!

We walked the boardwalk

and ate lunch at the Cadillac Grill

Little C sporting K's sunglasses

We all had a good time. Thanks for coming, Emily.

First Day

2011-08-28T09:27:00.003-05:00

Both my boys started school this week! They are growing up so fast!

Big C was so excited (like usual). I asked him if he wanted me to take him to school on the first day but he was too excited about riding the bus. I couldn't even get him to look back for me to take a picture!! As he rode away, I just waved then cried. Off my baby went to school. I'm glad he was so excited, though, and he had a great week.

N started at a different school than Big C because our home school doesn't have a program for special needs kids until they are a little older.N had a harder time adjusting and by Friday when I dropped him off he knew where we were and cried big tears. It was sad. He's not used to being away from me and from home so much. Hopefully he will adjust and enjoy it so that I don't have to worry about him every day and so that he can benefit from being in school and being around other kids! Monday he will start taking the bus!
School wore him out! He's been very tired and I don't blame him, it's a lot to take in especially since we are still doing therapy twice a week and going to our never ending doctor's appointments.

So, it's just me and Little C at home and she usually naps for a good 2-3 hours while the boys are gone. I actually have time to myself, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. I'm going to have to rediscover what I like to do and maybe I'll even be able to read a book or get a project or 2 done on our house or something.

Summer fun

2011-08-21T10:47:00.005-05:00

N started physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy twice a week this summer and it's made a big difference, especially in his physical strength. He finally learned to stand on his own

and walk on his own. He's getting so big!!!

We loved swimming in our neighborhood pool, we went there almost every day. Little C has no fearshe jumped in to the kiddie pool a couple of times by her self which was a little scary!Big C also made big strides in swimming. He learned to jump off the diving board without his floaties and dive for things at the bottom of the pool.N loves the swimming pool too. He could reach the bottom of the kiddie pool and in the inner tube he had a lot of independence.

My sister and her family came for a short visit and we had a good time. Big C always loves to be with his cousins. We went to the temple and they had a fun time playing together in the playroom.

We also had Lauren, Ryan, Jackson and Ella come for a short visit. Sadly, I didn't take one picture but we had fun and Little C loved baby Ella and wanted to hold her and gave her about a hundred kisses. Jackson loved Little C and kept trying to pick her up and give her kisses!! She can dish it out but doesn't want to take it.

This is just a cute picture of Little C wearing my shoes. She puts them on all the time!

Anniversary Trip

2011-08-14T17:03:00.007-05:00

For the first time in over 4 years, K and I were able to get away on a little vacation together. It was our 10th anniversary and thanks to my wonderful friends, Kelly and Debbie and our nurse, Claudine, we were able to leave the kids and go to Louisiana for 4 days. Kelly came and stayed at our house and we left Big C and N with her. She came over several days and nights in advance to learn how to take care of N and practice doing all the medical things that have to be done for him. Little C stayed at Debbie's house and had a fun time with her kids. It was seriously the best anniversary gift we've ever received and I will forever be grateful to those dear friends for doing this for us.

Our trip was awesome!! We remembered why we like each other and why we got married and we were able to forget about all of life's stresses and talk about other things besides bills and kids! We did things on our schedule, we slept in and slept all night without the nightly interruptions we usually get from N's machine or something else, and we just enjoyed being together.

We spent the first day at the Kemah Boardwalk. We went on "The Beast" which is a speed boat ride out into the gulf. They said we would get wet on the ride and we thought we'd probably get a little spray or something. They weren't kidding! We got drenched and because it was so humid, our clothes never dried!From there we drove to a little town outside of Baton Rouge and stayed at an old southern plantation bed and breakfast. It was beautiful.and the grounds were very pretty as well and it was right on the Mississippi River. It was very hot and humid, we were sweating just standing outside, but it was quiet and peaceful and we had a great time.Next we went into New Orleans. We stayed in the French Quarter which is very old and not very nice and smells like trash, but it was an experience and we enjoyed it. We went on a Steamboat River tour of New Orleans on one of the original steam paddle boats that traveled the Mississippi.We learned a lot about the history of New Orleans and saw lots of historical sites including the St. Louis Cathedral that is in Jackson Square.

After the Riverboat tour we walked around the French Quarter and actually went to Jackson Square

We ate dinner on Bourbon Street

and ate beignets at Cafe Du Monde

and went on a Haunted History Tour of the French Quarter. I was a little skeptical about it at first since the tour began at Rev. Zombie's Voodoo Shop but it turned out to be very entertaining and fun.

After the tour we went back to our hotel since New Orleans turns into a cesspool of drunks and nude bars at night. I was definitely glad we didn't have the kids with us!!

By the end, we didn't want to come home but all vacations have to come to an end and like I said before, we are so grateful to our friends for making this trip possible. Here's to another 10 years!!!

Fourth of July

2011-07-17T09:55:00.007-05:00

We had a busy, hot, fun 4th of July this year. We went to our ward pancake breakfast.

Big C rode in the bike parade that they had inside, thankfully.

Little C is getting so big, she fits on Big C's bike.

N and Little C had fun playing with their American flags that we got at the most bizarre furniture store I think I've ever been to. It was huge and when we walked in there were chocolate chip cookies baking and waitress-like people going around the store offering free food like ice cream, cookies, cheese breadsticks, and cotton candy. And then it had a large cage full of monkeys in the middle of the store and several cages full of exotic birds, it was like a mini zoo! It also had a huge play place for the kids and a deli where we got free lunch because we bought a piece of furniture. The kids loved it and we spent about 2 hours there. So weird!

Just a cute smiley picture of N

and one of Little C

After the furniture store, we went and saw Cars 2 with some friends and then went to a BBQ at the Smith's. Big C and Riley had blue tongues from their popsicles.

We are so lucky to have good friends from church that we can do things with on holidays in place of our families that are far away. It was a fun day.

Just a few catch up pictures. We took a little trip to Austin since K had a meeting there for work. The kids always like staying in a hotel and we visited some of N's old doctors and nurses and our friends at the Ronald McDonald House. Everyone was so glad to see N and his progress.

Big C and Little C got really sick for a week in June. It was sad, I've never seen either of them that sick. We were very careful to keep them away from N and luckily he was able to avoid it. Thank goodness for IVIG!

N already lost a tooth! And since this picture, another one of his bottom teeth has fallen out. And, one of his permanent teeth is already poking through! Isn't he too young for that?

N has learned how to catch a ball. Yeah, we get excited over small things at our house!

Moved

2011-07-08T13:53:00.005-05:00

Well, we made it into our new house. Other than the fact that our power at our old place got turned off two days early in the middle of the summer heat and we weren't ready to be out at all AND I had to go to work on Saturday morning in the middle of our move, the move went pretty smoothly. However, it was not fun AT ALL to pack and clean the old place with no AC and no fans. I was sweating buckets and if I was sweating buckets, you can only imagine what K looked like! We spent the first 2 nights in our new place on air mattresses and living out of suitcases since we didn't have any of our furniture yet, but it all worked out.

We've been working on the house for the last month, replacing some flooring and painting and we are glad that it is done (mostly, we still have some quarter rounds, transition strips and touch up paint to do). Here are some before and after pictures.
The breakfast nook before....

.....and after (that old radio on the wall still works, it's pretty cool)

the dining room before...

...and after. Both rooms I painted unfortunately turned out much more purple than I'd expected. The dining room was supposed to be a deep blue and the breakfast nook a gray with a hint of purple. Oh well, good thing I like purple.

and the kitchen before...

...and after

The backyard is awesome, we love it. Big C can't wait to get Cougar back!

Our new neighborhood is much nicer and our neighbors are great. Our next door neighbor even mowed our lawn for us as a welcome gift after they brought us fresh baked chocolate chip cookies! The people next to them have kids the exact ages of our kids so we are excited for that. We are happy to be in something bigger and the kids seem to really like it.
Thanks to everyone who helped us move and babysit and renovate! We couldn't have done it without ya'll!

Just a few random thoughts about N

2011-06-23T21:44:00.003-05:00

I never knew that I could experience so much joy and happiness and so much discouragement and anguish all at the same time until I gave birth to my little N. Having a disabled child is the best and the worst thing that has happened to me. There are so many restrictions, dashed dreams and hopes but at the same time so many unexpected blessings and tender mercies from the Lord that have come into my life because of N. I may never hear a "thank you, mama" or an "I love you, mama" come out of his mouth, but I know that one day I'll know the real N. The N that is trapped inside a body that doesn't work well, the N that came to earth knowing his situation wouldn't be ideal, the N that has a lot to say. Then he and I will have a real conversation and we'll talk about this whole experience and I'll probably be the one thanking him for his sacrifice so that I could learn the lessons I needed to learn and so that I could become a better person. What a roller coaster of emotions this life is. I just pray I can hang on and enjoy the ride!!

short and to the point

2011-06-06T21:26:00.001-05:00

I passed my test (YAY!!), we closed on our house, and we're busy as ever.

Big C's graduation

2011-05-29T09:04:00.005-05:00

Big C's preschool had a graduation and it was quite the ordeal. They had a printed program

and graduation caps

and each preschool class preformed a special musical number

then all the graduates were announced

(I tried to load a video of Big C walking across the stage receiving his "diploma" but it wouldn't load)

and there was a reception and refreshments afterward.

Seems like alot of effort for a preschool graduation but we are proud of Big C. He loved his class and he is such a smart little kid. He's excited for kindergarten in the fall!

K and I also got to go out with some friends to a hockey game. The Aeros are in the Calder Cup finals (They are in the American Hockey League, which is the minor league, and this is the

championship series). Although we aren't huge hockey fans, it was fun to go to a sporting event and be with friends even if the Aeros didn't win! It was only game 2 of 7, so they still have a chance.

May

2011-05-19T14:27:00.003-05:00

As always, life is busy. I went to Time Out For Women in San Antonio with some friends from my ward and it was so much fun. We stayed overnight in the Marriott on the Riverwalk and we stayed up late and felt young again! The conference itself was awesome and very inspiring. I'm so glad we went.

I had to take my recertifying board exam this week. It was an intense 6 hour test and I won't find out if I passed for 2 weeks. Very stressful! This determines whether I can keep my license to practice medicine, so let's all keep our fingers crossed and pray that I passed. Last Saturday while I sat in the park and studied, K took the kids to the zoo.

In the petting zoo, Big C brushed the goats

While N was more interested in trying to get to his stroller through the fence!

Big C took about 15 pictures of the snakes and lizards and no pictures of anything else. I guess these were his favoriteLittle C loves babies, I don't think she realizes that she still is one!

In other news, we bought a house and close on June 3, more to come about that in future posts. And we found out that President Obama has cut the grant out of the federal budget that funds K's program at work, so come Aug/Sept, K may be out of a job!!! Yikes. Not very good timing but so goes the economy these days. What happened to the days when working for the state was a very stable job?!! Apparently they are long gone.

EEG's and Easter!

2011-04-25T20:42:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the delay on postings. We just haven't made enough time to update friends and families on our happenings. We apologize, but it will most likely be a trend!

Life is busy as usual. L and the kids spent a week up in Dallas while L attended a special medical conference designed to help her pass her PA boards. It is hard to believe it has been almost six years since she graduated. Dorothy, L's mother, flew down to help take care of the kids until I could get up to Dallas to help. Unfortunately, she caught a pretty nasty sick bug and was laid up in bed for a few days. L's parents always seem to get some nasty bug when they go to Dallas. They might have to try coming to Houston next time to see if they have better luck! Due to the hectic and chaotic time in Dallas I am sorry to announce that zero pictures were taken! I am hoping Wendy can email us some fishing pictures to post. More to come.....

Last week N went into the hospital to have a 23 hour EEG. An EEG basically monitors your brainwave activity. A whole bunch of electrodes were glued onto his head and a nifty gauze helmet was created to keep him from pulling them off. So for 23 straight hours he was monitored and video taped. The EEG and video tapes will be analyzed to check for seizure activity and for Autism. We should get the results back in 4-6 weeks. I feel sorry for the person that has to sit and look at 23 hours of brainwave activity and video of N playing in his room. Needless to say it was by far the easiest and fastest hospital stay we have ever had!

N proudly showing off his helmet made of gauze and tape

A side view of the helmet. The tail was for the wires leading to a little backpack we had to carry close to him when he was out of bed.

Then came Easter. Things were pretty low key around here. The Easter Bunny came and left without being detected. Big C was actually scared to go downstairs by himself for fear the Easter Bunny might still be there. The kids received eggs filled with honey roasted peanuts, robins eggs, and fruit snacks. The "healthy" Easter Bunny visited the Beam house. Big C got some much needed shorts, t-shirts, games, and bubbles. Little C received some new clothes, books, and games. N received a gigantic bottle of bubbles and a new toy. We ended the day by having Easter egg potato salad, home made bread sticks, and garden burgers. You know, your traditional Texas Easter dinner!

Big C proudly displaying his colored Easter eggs

Our little family standing in front of their Easter baskets on Easter morning

N enjoying his new Easter toy

L painted Little C's toenails for the first time. She loved having her toes painted. She was constantly looking down and wiggling her chubby little toes.

This is for the grandparents who have stated that we don't put many pictures of Little C on here. Here you go!!

Here is a video of some exciting news. N has started taking some steps on his own between L and I. He is getting stronger and we are so glad he continues to progress. He's such a blessing to us. Enjoy.

Big C actually took this video. I think he did a pretty decent job for his age!!

Splash Pad with the Smiths

2011-03-20T10:15:00.005-05:00

Since the last post, we've been busy with our usual things, doctors appointments and more doctors appointments!! My kids are troopers when it comes to appointments, even when the appointment takes 4-5 hours. They keep each other company.

We all had some GI bug, starting with little C, then me, then N got sick and missed school all week. He was pretty sick, we ended up having to take him to the hospital for some IV fluids. Big C's and K's was a mild version of what the rest of us had. It was spring break this week so we all just stayed home and made sure we were all better. We also got news from the immunologist that N's immune system is officially deficient so he will have to have IV immunoglobulins monthly. Just add it to my list of things to do! And we are starting the work up AGAIN for N to be listed on the kidney transplant list here. Our first appointment is in April.

We went to the Waterway in the Woodlands with our good friends the Smiths. This is me and Kathy. We're so grateful for good friends. It was a beautiful day and the kids had fun. Big C and Ethan playing.In the past, Big C has been a little tentative with splash pads, but this year, he jumped right in and had fun.

Little C and Zoe are just a few months apart and are already good buddies. We hope as they grow up they will still be buddies. They weren't as in to the splash pad as their brothers were.

N slept pretty much the whole time we were there. He just woke up in this picture so he was still a little groggy.

Little C's hair is FINALLY long enough for pigtails.

Yay for pigtails!

Dallas and Birthday

2011-03-06T10:11:00.008-06:00

We went to Dallas a couple of weekends ago for a few reasons. We stopped in College Station for N to see a cranio-sacral therapist. It was interesting and she thinks she can help fix the autistic behaviors and seizures by working to release the membranes in his brain that are tight and reshaping his head. We are very hopeful that this will work!

Then we went to Dallas where we were able to see several of our wonderful friends from College Station who had come up for the BYU/TCU game. We met at the Rae's house before the game and had a great time visiting and catching up. We miss them!We have 11 kids between us. It was a full house!
Me, my sister and Ken went to the BYU game, K stayed home with the kids.

We got caught up in the "Fredette frenzy" with all the other fans!

After the game, we were able to go to dinner with my cousin Todd and his wife Monica who are from Colorado but came to Dallas for a conference and the game. We hadn't seen them in years and we had a great time visiting. It's always nice to see family and we were glad we could spend some time together.

We also took N to see Dr. Ardis, the natural healer. He says he is doing well and we were able to decrease some of his supplements that he is taking. We continue to pray that all these things we are doing for N will help him stay healthy and reach his potential.

N turned 3!!! He graduated from ECI, here he is with one of his favorite ECI therapists, Miss Rachel.

His birthday was a big day because he started school. He is enrolled in the Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD). The school district personalized a program just for N and he is the only disabled child in the class which means he gets one on one attention from his teachers. We were very happy about this, can't really ask for anything better than one on one. When I dropped him off they brought this little wheelchair out to take him into school. It was much harder for me to drop him off than it was for him, he was just fine. Here he is with the PPCD teachers.

Little C was happy to have Mama all to herself after dropping N off.

After school we went to Big C's art show at his preschoolthen started the birthday festivities at Chuck E. Cheese's. N actually liked it this time, we've been to places like this before where he's freaked out because of the noise and flashing lights but it was good this time. He liked the merry-go-round

and the horse ride

and the simulated roller coaster with his brother.

Little C had a great time, too.We've been working hard to try to get N to do anything with food. Our therapists tell us the first step is to have him touch and play with food. He's pretty opposed to this because he has some texture issues but on his birthday, he fed his Daddy

and played with his cake

and even sucked on his finger with some frosting on it.

He is really into balls right now so I made him a ball cake to help him want to touch the food. Apparently it worked

Balloons are always a big hit with NWe ended the day by opening gifts

and playing a little with his siblings.

We are so glad N is with us in our family. He has made incredible progress in the last year, as slow as it may be, and we look forward to more small victories and adventures that may come our way in the next year of his life.

Soccer

2011-02-13T08:04:00.005-06:00

We signed Big C up to play soccer this year. Last week we got an email saying that his team still didn't have a coach so they were going to have a parents meeting to determine what to do. K and another Dad were the only ones that showed up to the meeting so by default K got appointed as the coach of the team and the other Dad is the assistant! K wasn't too excited about that but Big C was and hopefully it will work out well!His first soccer game was yesterday. He was a little nervous to start playing but he did great and had fun. He ran as hard as he could and almost scored 3 goals! The weather was perfect, we were grateful we didn't have the cold weather we had last week.

Little C wanted to get in on the action, too.

After soccer and our picnic in the park, we went home to bake and decorate our Valentine's Day cookies and then delivered them to friends. We had a fun day.

Here's some random pictures of N. He is fascinated with the broom. I'm hoping it means that one day he'll like to sweep for me!

N has been really interested in Little C lately. While she was having lunch, he circled her high chair and in the process lost his pants! Silly kid.

Texas Winter

2011-02-03T11:40:00.004-06:00

One of the many reasons why we love Texas is the mild winters. We can still be outside and play at the park and still wear short sleeve shirts and ride our bikes in the middle of January. Today, however, is in the 20s and it is so cold and snow is in the forecast. It hasn't snowed yet, but it's forecasted, so schools are closing early today and are closed tomorrow, one of Nikolas's doctor's appointments got cancelled because of the possibility of snow and I was supposed to start my new job today but the clinic is closed because of a few flurries that MIGHT happen. It's crazy! Snow is a BIG DEAL in places where it rarely or never snows. I find it kind of funny that everyone freaks out like this at just the possibility of snow. I will admit, though, it feels really cold. We've become wimpy when it comes to cold weather since we've been away from Utah and living in the southwest for about 8 years.

So, I mentioned I got a new job. It just kind of fell into my lap and really is exactly what I was looking for. I'll be working for a weight loss clinic only a few hours a week (I'm talking like 3-4) doing new patient evaluations. The office manager said she would work with my schedule and I can pick my hours for the week. It really sounds too good to be true and I'm hoping it doesn't turn out to be! Like I said today was to be my first day but I'll start next week instead.

Here's some updated pictures of the kids.

We took Big C ice skating. He was really nervous at first and the walker helped him feel alot more stable. He had a good time.

K got to skate with him and I stayed on the side with the other kids

Little C is walking all over the place and has figured out how to get up on the playground equipment

and how to go down the slide by herself. She has grown up so fast!

Little C insists on feeding herself which is really nice but usually she leaves quite a mess to be cleaned up!

N is doing really well. He loves being outside at the playground.

N had a cystoscopy to evaluate his bladder. Because of its small size he's be on hold on the kidney transplant list. After the procedure, the urologist told me she was going to recommend re-activating N on the transplant list without doing anything to his bladder. Although his bladder is still small and won't be able to accommodate a new kidney, they aren't going to do anything about it until the time of transplant. So that was all good news. N is also getting ready to start school in March so we've been busy with evaluations and assessments and everything else that goes along with that. I can't believe he'll be going to school!! I think it will definitely be harder for me than for him.

December Happenings

2011-01-14T20:53:00.007-06:00

We have finally returned as promised!

December was full of fun and exciting events. Much of this focused around two birthdays. First birthday for big C. He turned five years old this year and it is hard to believe he is that old. We had some of his friends from church over to celebrate. Big C decided to have a Thomas the Train b-day. L made another wonderful cake and we tapped into my sister-in-laws Latino heritage and had a Thomas pinata. Since big C's b-day is only six days before Christmas we make an extra effort to make it special. Big C also started preschool this week. He was and still is excited to attend school two days a week. It is a private christian school so he looks extremely stylish in his required school attire.

The second birthday celebration was that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Christmas is such a special time of the year. Big C was really into Christmas this year, which makes it extra special. It is extremely hard not to get influenced by his enthusiasm and excitement for things, especially Christmas.

N has progressed far beyond our expectations this year. First, he stared crawling May or June. Now, just a few days ago has started walking with a reverse walker. See video below. While we look back,we see so many tender mercies in N's life, it is almost overwhelming. He continues to surprise not only us, his parents, but specifically his doctors. N has been seeing a chiropractor, Dr Ardis, in Dallas who specifically does Nutritional Response Testing. Dr Ardis believes N's only kidney has the ability to repair itself and return to a functioning kidney! At first we were hesitant until the following happened. One week prior to seeing Dr Ardis N was diagnosed with moderate to severe autism. We returned, as a family, to see the autism doctor three weeks after giving N the nutritional supplements Dr Ardis recommended. The autism doctor was dumbfounded at the change in N. Instead of her telling us about N's autism, she spent two hours trying to figure out why this child was completely different, and possibly not autistic. He really is a completely different child since seeing Dr Ardis. He suddenly interacts, makes eye contact, wants our attention, and tries to play with his siblings. Something he rarely did before. We know, we know....but the change is truly remarkable! The only difference......nutritional supplements.

Lil' C, as you can see, has started walking. She is never in one spot and is into everything. Her favorite word is still BAA, but can say daddy, momma, up, baby, please, thank you, all done, this, stinky, and chip please! She loves to play with her brothers and especially loves giving N hugs.

Enjoy the pics.....

L and her kids on Christmas morning

Big C asking Santa for an outer space glow in the dark marble maze he saw at Costco. Unfortunately, Santa read that it took 4 to 5 hours to set up. Needless to say, C did not get it for Christmas..K thanks you Santa...very much!

Big C helping L with some of the cookies she bakes this year

Big C and N playing at the hospital before one of N's dialysis appt.

N and Big C hanging out at the hospital waiting for the dialysis Christmas part to start. They had a blast!

Big C getting ready to blow out his birthday candles on his Thomas the Train cake.

Big C showing off his preschool attire. He was so excited to start school. He will also start playing soccer this year, which he is also excited about.

Lil' C showing off her very cute smile.

N has learned to push himself around on this toy, but it wasn't fun for his siblings. So lil' C pushes on the back while big C holds onto her shoulders. It is good to see all three kids being able to play together....and they love it.

Please be patient.....

2011-01-04T09:00:00.003-06:00

We apologize for the inconvenience. Due to this families obsession with the college football bowl season this site have been temporarily abandoned. The Beam family is alive, healthy and kicking themselves in the pants for some of their bowl picks. Please check back on, around, or after Jan 10th when the college football bowl season officially ends and the Beam's return back to real life.

November Happenings!!

2010-12-01T20:30:00.005-06:00

It has been another wild and crazy month. Is it really December? November just blew right by!! November was filled with lots of doctors appointments mixed with some fun activities. Little C turned one last week. Is she really 1? She enjoyed a few gifts and the traditional transition to a forward facing car seat. Enjoy a few pictures.

Little C taking a bite of her "smash cake". It took a lot of coaxing to get her to get her hands messy. She daintily destroyed the cake. You can see we didn't wait for her to finish before we took a few slices for ourselves.

This is what the cake looked like before. It was a small caramel cake. It tasted really good.

Little C has now started standing on her own. She loves, like most kids, to hold onto our fingers and walk around. She gets the biggest smile, as you can see, on her face when she stands all by her big self.

The crew in all their forward facing car seat glory. Doesn't N look really big in this picture?

Big C is really into a PBS Kids show called Dinosaur Train. Buddy, a T-Rex, visited Houston and we went to see him. We waited in a very long line to have our 15 seconds of buddy time.

Big C taking a picture of himself. He loves taking pictures with the camera.

L took the kids to the Houston zoo on a perfect day. I think all zoos must have this exact lion drinking fountain.

Big C and N bonding while we wait for one of the many doctors appointments. Big C is really good with his brother and sister.

N lately has become much more interactive. This is him playing peek-a-boo with a mat we have in the kitchen.

Mom and N in Dallas for Thanksgiving. N has been so happy lately. He loves to laugh and smile and for the first time in his life is seeking attention and interaction. This obviously is an excellent sign that he's progressing developmentally.

Thanksgiving was spent in Dallas at Wu's house. This is the first time L and Wu have had to cook Thanksgiving dinner all by themselves. They did a wonderful job. Here is their proud picture of the spread!

A picture of the wrecking crew that demolished the spread!

Little C and Beth playing nicely together. They are a few months apart and we anticipate these two girls becoming good friends.

We couldn't resist putting this picture of Wu on here. She is an excellent host every time we spend time in Dallas. This is her reaction when we told her she is the best host and cook in the whole world!!

On a lighter note those who know K know that he retired from playing football a few years ago. This was because he broke and dislocated his ankle and followed it up with a broken nose all while playing touch football. He came out of retirement and played in a Turkey Bowl this year. He played quarterback to reduce his chances of getting hurt. Well....that really didn't work. He "tweeked" his knee which had him hobbling around on a very swollen and painful knee for two days. He has once again retired from the sport................well until next year! maybe!

Happy Birthday and Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T21:23:00.005-05:00

We celebrated Kim's birthday with a trip to the hospital to fix Nikolas's broken dialysis catheter (which took up the bulk of the day!), dinner at Red Lobster for all-you-can-eat shrimp,

balloons,

presents

and German chocolate cake.

Happy Birthday, Kim!

Halloween was short and sweet this year. The last couple of years we've done lots of different activities, but this year all we did was go to our church trunk-or-treat

and carve 2 little pumpkins the night before Halloween. It's kind of a bummer when Halloween falls on a Sunday.

Carmendy was a cow, which Conner pointed out was very fitting since his nickname for her is "Missy Moo Moo"

Nikolas was Superman, which was also very fitting for our little fighter. He really is Superman fighting through everything he's been through and will continue to battle in his lifetime.

Conner was a spider, he's had that planned since the day after last Halloween. Thanks to Nanny for the super cute spider costume

Another month already gone by

2010-10-24T20:51:00.008-05:00

Time flies, I tell ya!

"Quick" recap of the last month.

We loved General Conference. We look forward to it every time and we love the spirit that it brings into our home. We are so grateful for prophets and apostles and modern revelation to help guide our lives.

We went to Dallas for Cameron's baptism. My parents came to town for the event and my poor Dad got really sick and missed the baptism!! It was fun to be in my sister's house again and see some friends from the ward there. And my kids liked spending time with Nanny and Papa and their cousins.

We went to a couple of soccer games and that was also fun.

This toy entertained Nikolas the whole time while we ate at the Cheesecake Factory

We celebrated 3 birthdays (Cameron's, Kim's and Ken's) with one cake.

My Mom came back to Houston with us for a couple of days which was great, just not long enough. We went to the Downtown Aquarium and had lots of fun seeing all the exhibits and riding the rides. The sitting white tiger was as tall as standing Conner.

Conner got under the sting ray exhibit to get a closer look.

We rode the carousel, the ferris wheel, the train through the shark exhibit and Conner even went with me on the free fall ride. He was scared to death but I was proud of him for doing it!

We went to "A Day Out With Thomas" again this year. This time we met the Bertoldo's there. Conner wasn't quite as excited about it this year as he was last year, but we still had fun.

Here we are riding Thomas

Kim and Nikolas stayed at the depot and waited for us. At $20 per ticket, we couldn't afford for the whole family to ride the train!!

Here we are with Sir Topham Hat. Carmendy was a little scared of him.
Conner showing Carmendy a cute puppy. Conner sure misses Cougar and still asks why he is still in Utah at Grandma and Grandpa's house!
Just down the road from the train station, we found Mater and Conner and Ryan may have been more excited about him than they were about Thomas.

Sweet Carmendy is already 11 months old.

It's absolutely amazing to me how fast that happened. She's crawling everywhere, pulling herself up, cruising along furniture and climbing the stairs. She loves to eat and be held and says "BA" for everything she wants. She's a sweet girl.

And last but not least, Nikolas went for his stay in the nursing home. That was our last step to qualify him for the program that will get his insurance back!! Everything went well and he was in and out without any issues. Kim was able to go and stay with him so that eased some of the anxiety about the situation.

And we were finally able to get established with a nephrologist here in Houston after being here for 2 months! It is very different than what we are used to but we hope we can build as good a relationship with these people as we had with the people in Austin. Nikolas loves his dialysis machine, he's going to miss it when we can finely get rid of it.

Trip to Austin

2010-09-28T21:21:00.003-05:00

Yes, we actually went to Austin for fun, not for a hospital stay. Kim had a conference to attend for work so the rest of us tagged along. We did have some doctor's appointments while we were there, of course, and although we tried, we couldn't stay away from the hospital. Conner really wanted to visit the nurses and play at some of his favorite places at the hospital. I'm glad he still thinks the hospital is a fun place to be. The nurses are always glad to see Conner and Nikolas, especially when it's just for a visit.

We went to Zilker Park and rode the Zilker Zephyr which all of my kids enjoyed even though you can't tell by the looks on their faces in these pictures. And we hung out and played at the hotel. It was a low key, fairly relaxing trip.

Whenever we travel, we usually put Nikolas in the Pack and Play bassinet because of his dialysis. His dialysis machine has to be level or lower than him but it can't be on the floor which makes his sleeping arrangements on the road a little tricky. We asked the hotel for a crib for him since he really is too big for the bassinet in our Pack and Play and they brought us a...Pack and Play. So we had to be creative and this is what we came up with. It wasn't very stable and I don't think it was very comfortable for Nikolas since he didn't sleep very well but, what can you do!!

And since Nikolas is more mobile these days, he's learned to pull himself up on the couch, in his crib and on other furniture (which is another reason we can no longer put him in the bassinet of the Pack and Play). We discovered he was capable of pulling himself to standing in his crib one night when he actually fell right out of his crib. It scared me to death but luckily, he didn't get hurt and needless to say, we lowered his crib mattress. But then we had to put his crib up on bricks to accommodate the dialysis machine!
The other day, he was crawling around pushing Rocket Submarine on the floor and pushed it under the kitchen table. In his attempt to try to get it, he fell and nailed his eye on one of the legs of the table. This picture actually looks a ton better than what it originally looked like.

It's just the price to pay for mobility. I guess every kid must go through the bruises-all-over-your-body stage as they are learning to crawl, pull up and walk.

Finally getting around to it!

2010-09-19T15:19:00.004-05:00

Let me attempt to update the last couple of months without writing a novel.

OK, so the last month we were in Dallas was spent trying to get everything in order to get Nikolas listed on the Dallas kidney transplant list. Kim had already moved to Houston and started work so I was left alone with the kids during the week and Kim would come back on the weekends. Thankfully I had my sister to help but it was still very long and hard. Anyway, Nikolas had to have some testing done on his bladder and they discovered that it is very small and can only hold about 15 mls of fluid. A normal bladder for a kid of his age should be able to hold around 100 mls or more. So, they have to do some further testing and probably do a surgery to augment his bladder before he gets transplanted so that the new kidney doesn't overwhelm his little bladder. So, he has been temporarily inactivated again until all this gets taken care of. Is he really ever going to get a transplant? Someone in our ward in Dallas did volunteer to get tested for Nikolas to see if she's a match for transplant. She's had the preliminary testing and so far she is a match so we are praying that things continue to go well with that. Our ward in Dallas was great and we really appreciate all they did for us even though we were there for just a short time. We've had a really hard time getting all of Nikolas's medical care transferred from Austin to Houston so we've still been travelling to Austin for some appointments. And, because of Kim's income, Nikolas is losing his SSI which also means he is losing his Medicaid. We have been scrambling to try to figure out what to do so that we don't drown in medical bills and it's been a huge stress. We are in the process of trying to qualify him for a program that will give him Medicaid regardless of our income, but like any state program, it takes along time and he has to be admitted into a nursing home for a 24 hour stay. We are not too excited about that but are willing to do whatever it takes so that Nikolas won't be denied anything that he needs because we can't afford it!! Alot of my time has been spent trying to get all of Nikolas's medical needs and therapies set up here in Houston. It's turned into a bigger ordeal than I thought it would be.

We had two days to find a place to live in Houston so we decided to rent for a year until we know where we really want to be. We made our move in 2 stages. We moved our storage unit first so that Kim would have a few things in the house since he was there all by himself for a while and then a couple of weeks later, when the kids and I moved, we moved all the rest of our stuff from my sister's house. Kim is really liking his job even though he has to commute an hour one way to work. It's a good fit for him and he is so glad that he is able to use his public health degree that he worked so hard for.

Houston is hot and REALLY humid. It's humid in College Station and so I thought it wouldn't be too bad in Houston, but it's ALOT worse. Our neighborhood has no sidewalks and we have yet to see another white person in it. I guess every neighborhood around here needs their token white family!! Houston also has alot of bugs and we've had our fair share. I saw the biggest cockroach I've EVER seen in my kitchen and over the next couple of days we had fire ants swarming in our front room and on Conner's bed (of all places). Needless to say we immediately called the exterminator and it seemed to take care of the problem. It took us about a month to get a key to our mailbox so I and my three children had to make frequent trips to the post office to get our mail. And, our garage door opener sporadically works, so we got locked out of our house the other day for several hours. Speaking of our garage, our freezer that sits in our garage somehow got turned off and the $400 worth of meat, several loaves of bread, ice cream and frozen fruit that were in it got completely ruined. It also left a horrible and I mean gag-and-make-you-want-to-throw-up horrible smell in our garage. Other than that, Houston is fine! Our house is bigger than what we had before and we are very close to the temple which is wonderful. It's been along time since we lived close to the temple.

We like our ward. I've been called to be the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society Presidency and Kim is a ward missionary. Our ward has chosen to have monthly Relief Society meetings, like the old enrichment program, so it will be busy. I also got thrown into organizing a super saturday, ya know, since I'm totally crafty (yeah, right).

Carmendy is crawling and getting her two top teeth and growing so fast. She's very happy and smiley and she puts everything in her mouth, including Nikolas's hearing aids (that she has now broken TWICE) and dialysis catheter. We really need to work on that. She's already almost 10 months old. Time goes so fast. My mom made these cute matching outfits for Carmendy and Bethany for the 4th of July. My mom is so talented.And cute, wonderful, Conner is my huge helper and lifesaver. I don't know what I'd do without his enthusiasm and smart, funny personality. Nikolas is a much happier kid now that he is mobile and he seems to be getting stronger all the time. Other than one ER visit for a broken dialysis catheter in August here in Houston, he hasn't been in the hospital since June (knock on wood) and we hope it stays that way!!

I am looking for a job, something I can do nights and weekends. I had an interview with a doctor for a family practice/pain management job. The doctor basically told me that most of his patients were addicted to pain medications and that some of them were selling the meds on the streets so that's why he made sure to document carefully so he didn't get in trouble. He was also trying to convince me to work days and he told me he could find a "spanish lady" to take care of my children. He said there were lots of illegals around the area that would do it for $10 an hour! That combined with the fact that the clinic was 45 minutes from home, very dirty and in a crummy part of town and in a run down strip mall made it easy for me to say thanks but no thanks! Hopefully I'll be able to find a much, MUCH better opportunity. Really anything will be better than that!

We spent lots of our hot Texas summer time outside in the pool.

And we went to Lake Lewisville on the hottest day of the year (it was so hot the water wasn't even refreshing) with my sister and my good childhood friend, Susan, and her family. It was fun to catch up with her after many years. It was all of my children's first time at the "beach". Hopefully not their last now that we live closer to the REAL beach.

And last but not least, it was my birthday. My dear friend, Lauren, got several of our friends together and we had a little lunch party that was so fun. I really needed it. Thanks for doing that for me guys! And congratulations if you read this whole post!

We haven't fallen off the face of the earth....

2010-09-08T21:34:00.002-05:00

We've just been super busy! We moved to Houston and didn't have internet access for over a month and finally got it working today! Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures from the last few months in the next few days and write a more lengthy update. But, then again, I might not get around to it because I'm super busy. We'll see what happens.

Milestones!!

2010-07-19T20:58:00.003-05:00

Our family has been very blessed as of late. Coupled with Kim finally getting a job, Nikolas has been achieving his own milestones. As many of you know Nikolas is severely developmentally delayed. Even though he is over 2 years old, developmentally he is around 8 or 9 months old. He has made so much progress since moving to Dallas. Today, he did something we did not expect him to do for some time.............

I guess all he needs is a little motivation, Red Rocket from Little Einstein's, to get him moving. Shortly after the video he crawled right over next to Leslie and Carmendy to play with them. We are so grateful for his awesome occupational, speech, deaf educators, and physical therapists for their dedication in helping Nikolas achieve this milestone. Our hands will be full with Nikolas as Carmendy both being mobile in the next few months.

Speaking of Carmendy she is growing like a weed. She has taken a special interest in eating anything and everything around. If we sit down to eat somethings she screams her lungs out, as loud as she can, until we give her a bite. As cute as it once was, has now become a slight annoyance. We are trying to teach her some manners, but it is difficult since she is only 8 months old.

Carmendy proudly showing off her two bottom teeth.

Off to Houston

2010-07-17T12:31:00.002-05:00

Kim was offered a position with the State of Texas working in Houston as a Program specialist. He'll be advising 7 counties in the Houston area on Public Health issues and is very excited about the job. He starts July 29! So, another move is in the near future for us. We have actually really loved living with my sister and will be sad to leave.

San Antonio Fun

2010-06-29T21:04:00.003-05:00

We took our 2010 family vacation to San Antonio this year. Craig, Leslie's brother, came to San Antonio for business. Craig was nice enough to let an extra five people stay in his hotel room. Thanks again Craig for letting us crash your business trip. Wendy came along for a day and brought three of her four kids. We visited some of San Antonio's most cherished tourist attractions. We walked and ate dinner on the River Walk. We visited the Alamo, which was closed, but still fun to say we had been there. We even ventured up to Driftwood, TX to eat some excellent, if not the best, Texas BBQ at the Salt Lick. We drove 1.5 hours to get there, and drove 2.5 hours back. Thanks to Craig's coworker's cousin, we took the very, very, very long scenic route around San Antonio to get Craig's rental car.

Other family happenings...Carmendy is getting her first set of teeth. The two bottom front ones are starting to peek through. Nikolas is getting stronger and looking like he really wants to crawl, but just isn't strong enough yet. He keeps trying and trying. Conner is still having fun playing with his three cousins. I have dramatically increased the amount of job interviews. Since moving to Frisco a month ago, I have had more interviews than I had in seven months in College Station. It's encouraging, but no job offers yet. Much of the improvement is a result of the wonderful missionaries at the LDS Employment Resource Center, they have been a great help with my resume and interview skills. Enjoy the pictures.....

Leslie and Conner in front of four HUGE snakes at the Snake Farm just outside of San Antonio. Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel visited here and did some dirty work..so we HAD to stop and visit. Conner loved the snakes and other animals...I liked the other animals!!!

Conner feeding the goats in the petting zoo. They were very aggressive goats. We even saw one goat eat the entire paper bag. It IS true that goats will eat anything and everything (right, Barb?).

Us after eating at Salt Lick BBQ. Man vs. Food on the Food Network features this restaurant so Craig wanted to try it out. It did not disappoint. The BBQ was amazing!!!

Me digging in to one of the delicious ribs!!

This place cooks all of their meat over an open fire pit inside the restaraunt. I had to get a picture of the pit. Look at how much meat is on this thing. Again, it was THE BEST Texas BBQ. When we walked in, Craig and I looked at each other licking our lips and rubbing our bellies and Leslie and Wendy looked at each other trying not to throw up at the sight of all that meat!!

We also visited a cool children's museum close to downtown San Antonio. This is Leslie, Conner, and Carter in the museum's treehouse. The kids had a really good time.

This is a mechanical T-Rex outside the museum. The museum was featuring a dinosaur exhibit, which we didn't have time to see. But the outside dinosaur was cool. Its mouth, eyes, arms, and tail would move while it growled. Conner and Carter really enjoyed it..

This was the first morning at the hotel. The adults were still getting ready for the day so we turned on Disney Channel. They all have the same blank look on their face...even Carmendy!!!

Life goes on

2010-06-12T16:19:00.004-05:00

So, not a whole lot going on for us right now, which is actually kind of a nice change. Kim's still looking for a job. He has had a couple of interviews at least but no offers yet. Something will come up when the job and the time is right. In the mean time, we are just hanging out at my sister's house, enjoying some fun activities and time together.

We went to a gymnastics gym on a day that is was free for the kids. They had alot of fun on the trampoline

and the balance beam. Carter and Conner were jumping off the beam into the foam pit.

The boys hugging their sisters, Bethany didn't really want to be hugged, though.

Conner and Nikolas as Giraffe and Pig

Carmendy and Nikolas entertain each other when they are sitting together on the floor. They like to kick each other's feet. It's cute.

Nikolas is doing really well. We did have to make a trip to Austin last week for an exit site infection (an infection where his dialysis catheter comes out of his belly). We were worried it was the same bacteria he had in November when he was hospitalized and had to have an I & D of his catheter, but the infection cleared with just some topical antibiotics, so that was good. We also made a trip back to College Station for an interview for Kim and to have Nikolas's blood drawn since we are having a hard time finding anywhere here that will draw his blood other than through the ER. We also got a call from the San Antonio transplant team saying that they might have a kidney for Nikolas. We were excited but it turned out that the kidney tested positive for drugs like cocaine and meth, so we (and they) didn't feel good about putting it in Nikolas. But, it means that he is very close so we are praying that he will stay healthy and that he will be transplanted soon. And just recently, within the last few days, Nikolas has started pushing himself up from laying into a sitting position. We lay him down in his crib and check on him a few minutes later and he's sitting up. It's great! Today he wanted Red Rocket on the table so he rolled onto his belly
pushed himself onto his knees

then pushed himself up and was so proud!

We're proud of him, too.

Relocation Complete

2010-05-26T21:14:00.005-05:00

We have temporarily relocated. We moved in with Leslie's sister on Saturday. Needless to say we were exhausted by the end. Thanks to the Elders Quorum of both the old and new wards for all the help. Conner and his cousins have had lots of fun playing together. We will keep you updated on the job prospects as they present themselves. Here are some enjoyable pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Leslie at the end of her rope after having moving boxes all over the house for two straight weeks.
Moving is always a good time to get rid of the old. How much tupperware does one family need?

Conner having fun with his cousin. They have played non-stop since we arrived.

A cute picture of Carmendy on a walk this morning. How about them blue eyes?

We are grateful to have the community pool right across the street from the house. Leslie and I took 6 kids to the pool today for a little fun. Call us crazy!

Carmendy is now able to sit up on her own and play with toys..it only took Nikolas a year to accomplish this. We feel like we have an over achiever on our hands!

Nikolas is also doing well. He seems to have adjusted to the new environment OK. He sure loves his little sister.

All is well

2010-05-05T20:49:00.005-05:00

Nikolas came home from the hospital last Tuesday. The first couple of days home, he still had some diarrhea and we were still slowly increasing his food volume. We wondered if we'd brought him home a little too early but, as you can see, he's feeling much better and back to himself! We were at the hospital only 10 days this time. So glad it was a relatively short stay.

We went swimming today at the community pool for the first time this summer and the first time with all 3 kids. Here they all are, patiently waiting to go.

Nikolas loved it. He could actually touch the bottom of the pool this year and he splashed and walked and even went down the slide with Conner.

Carmendy didn't quite know what to think

but she sure looked cute in her suit!

Conner and Nikolas drying off in the sun

Just a random picture of what usually happens with the kids in the morning while I'm trying to get ready, does this happen to anyone else?

And as a final note, my wonderful sister has offered to let us come move in and live with her family in Dallas for the summer for free. After a lot of discussion and prayer we have decided to do it. Kim has been looking for a job for over 6 months without any luck so we feel like maybe a change in venue to a larger city may help. Mostly we feel like the Lord is guiding and inspiring us to make this change and we are putting our trust in Him. We'll be leaving in about 2 weeks. We will miss all of our friends and church support terribly, they've become our family since we've been here and have done so much for us through some very difficult and challenging times. They will always hold a special place in our hearts as will this town! We have decided to keep Nikolas's medical care in Austin through the summer until we have a better idea what the future holds for us and if we'll be staying in Dallas or heading somewhere else.

Hospital Update!!

2010-04-24T09:35:00.003-05:00

We have been in the hospital for one week now. Things have gone pretty much according to plan, which is unusual for Nikolas. They stopped his "gut rest" on Wed and started feeding him using Pedialyte. It was a rough first day and he kept having diarrhea. The doctors here are great and listened to our input. We decided to give him one more day to tolerate his foods, which he has tolerated. We are slowly but surely going up on his feeds. We anticipate being up to his full feed volume by tomorrow, Sunday. If things keep going well, fingers crossed, we will be released Monday or Tuesday.

In the meantime we are keeping busy here at the hospital. Conner keeps us entertained and on the go with all the fun activities they have for the kids here. This week Disney on Ice is in the Austin area and we had some special guests...

Leslie, Conner, and Nikolas having a photo session with Mickey and Minnie. Nikolas was more interested in looking at his IV pole than seeing Mickey and Minnie..

Conner and Carmendy cuddling in Conner's bed at the Ronald McDonald House, aka the Hotel, shortly after waking up...

The three amigo's playing together at the hospital...

We thought this would be a good contrast of how much weight he has lost..This is a current picture of Nikolas...

...and this is Nikolas a little over one year ago, March 2009.. WOW!! His shirt states "Chicks dig me"..if they dig the sumo wrestler look!!

Nikolas is back in the Hospital

2010-04-18T14:18:00.002-05:00

Nikolas was admitted into Dell Children's Hospital again on Saturday. For the last 10 days or so he has had a fever, that we can't get to break, and diarrhea. We thought that it was just a virus and that we would just wait for it to run its course at home. It got to the point where we couldn't keep him hydrated enough. He had some really rough days and nights. He's lost about 3 pounds in the last 10 days, which isn't necessarily bad thing he had some weight to give but we don't want him to lose anymore. He is doing fine and is being re-hydrated via IV. He's on "gut rest" for the next couple of days. We anticipate his food being started back up no later than Wed. Hopefully all will go well, and it won't be a long stay.

Easter

2010-04-07T21:08:00.004-05:00

We had a great Easter, it was mellow and laid back and we especially enjoyed watching General Conference over the weekend. Although the Easter Bunny did visit our house, we really tried to make the holiday about Christ this year and talked a lot about the the crucifixion and resurrection (thanks to the MOPS resurrection eggs) to help us remember what it's really all about.

Conner did the Easter egg hunt at Kroger again this year. The Easter Bunny didn't have to bring him any candy since he got more than enough on the hunt.

We all got into our Easter baskets together on Easter morning

Carmendy sticking her little snake-like tongue out!

We made Resurrection rolls. The marshmellows represent Christ's body, the butter and cinnamon-sugar represent the oil and spices used to prepare Christ's body for burial and the crescent rolls represent the linen that Christ's body was wrapped in and laid in the tomb. We dipped the marshmellows in the butter and cinnamon-sugar,

then wrapped them in the crescent rolls and put them in the "tomb" (the oven) for "3 days" (really only like 10 minutes)

when they came out of the oven they were hollow inside, or empty, just like the tomb of Christ was empty on resurrection morning. I thought it was a fun activity for Conner and I, it really helped him to understand the resurrection and the rolls were delicious.

And of course Easter isn't Easter unless you color a few eggs so we did that for family home evening.
On another note, we started Carmendy on rice cereal, she's 4 months already!!

She's doing great!

Utah trip

2010-04-03T21:00:00.006-05:00

I made a quick trip to Utah for my Dad's birthday. My sister and I collaborated with my Mom and flew in from Texas with our baby girls without my Dad knowing. My Mom picked us up at the airport and when we walked into my parents house, my Dad was completely surprised and stunned!! It was great. He was very excited for us to visit and it was a much needed break for me, too. My Dad got to meet Carmendy for the first time since she was born. She smiled and laughed a lot at Papa's silly faces and soft shoe dancing!

Nanny also got her fair share of Carmendy smiles and holding time.

We got the whole family together for dinner to celebrate my Dad's birthday.

As we were taking this picture of my siblings, my brother, Steve, turned to me and said, "we're getting old!" Thanks for reminding me, Steve!

I also got to see a long lost member of our family, our dog, Cougar, who has been staying with Grandma and Grandpa for a while (until our life settles down, if it ever does!!) I wondered if he'd remember me since it's been several months, but as soon as I pulled up he was whimpering and smiling and jumping up on me. He didn't leave my side the entire time I was at the Beam's. What a good dog!

Carmendy has 4 little cousins that are around her same age. These are KONNI'S twins (Kim's sister) who were born 2 weeks after Carmendy but 3 months premature. They've been out of the NICU for about 6 weeks now and we are so glad they are doing well. It was fun to see them. They were little snuggle bugs!

Little Bethany loved Carmendy. She would laugh and play with her and wanted to touch her all the time. We had to moderate a little but it was sweet how interested she was in "baby".

And Sadie loved Carmendy, too, and gave her hugs and wanted to play with her.

We got to see Grandma Beam

and Grandpa Beam and Carmendy met her cousins, Bryson and Kiana.

I was sad to leave but so glad that I could see my family and spend time with them. One last picture of my Dad and his girls before we left to come home.

Happy Birthday, Dad. Thanks for everything you do and are and I'm so glad that I could come to visit.

Leslie makes Headlines!!!!

2010-03-24T08:39:00.004-05:00

Yesterday Leslie was featured as the lead story on the ten o'clock news here in College Station. She showed up at work and there was a reporter wanting to interview her regarding the new healthcare bill. He mentioned that it would be part of the news broadcast. Little did she know it was the very first story!!! It was nice because they mentioned Nikolas in the broadcast. Click HERE to view the video. Enjoy!!

Another holiday in Austin....

2010-03-17T20:43:00.006-05:00

...but this St. Patrick's day, Nikolas wasn't actually in the hospital. We just had to go to Austin for some routine appointments, thankfully.

We started our green day with green milk for our cereal.

Then we went out on a 4-leaf shamrock and leprechaun hunt. Conner informed us that if we found a leprechaun we could ask him to give us his pot of gold if we could sneak up on him and make him laugh! Not sure where he got that but it was cute. Needless to say we didn't find a leprechaun or a 4-leaf clover. Maybe we'll have better luck next year.
We all dressed in our green and headed to Austin to see Nikolas's nephrologist. We are very excited because as of yesterday Nikolas is officially listed on the kidney transplant list. We could get a call from the transplant team at any time and we hope it is sooner than later! Then we played at the "green park" (as Conner calls it) in Austin in honor of the holiday.

We had a dinner of green pancakes and green eggs and ham. Conner was a little hesitant about the green eggs, but I just reminded him that so was Sam-I-Am and he ended up really liking them! That did the trick.

Then Conner and Nikolas got to take a green bath. Good times.

Kim made this little floating device for Nikolas's dialysis catheter (it's not supposed to soak in water) so that he can take a bath in the regular tub instead of in the infant tub that we were still using to bathe him (even though he's two and WAY too big for it)! He likes it alot better in the real tub.

And just some random pictures, Kim and Conner made these bread bears last night for dinner, very creative and very delicious.

And here's a cute picture of my babies in devices that they find themselves in more often than not! (How else are we ever supposed to get anything done?)

Carmendy update

2010-03-10T20:51:00.003-06:00

Carmendy is 3 1/2 months and is doing well. This is my favorite age, when they start to interact and smile and become aware that you are there. She's finally getting into somewhat of a routine, but it's alot harder to have a schedule for the 3rd baby! Although she doesn't eat in the middle of the night anymore, I wouldn't say she's sleeping through the night. Sometimes she does, she sleeps soundly all night long, and then sometimes she doesn't. We haven't been able to figure out why just yet. The other night she woke up at about 2:30 a.m. wide awake and just wanted to play, suck on her fingers and babble. She's still sleeping in the pack-and-play next to my bed (because we have nowhere else to put her in our house!) so she kept me up, too, for FOUR hours. She finally wanted to eat around 6:30 and then went back to sleep. I think it would be better just to be able to feed her once and be up for an hour than to have her wake up and play for 4 hours. What can you do? She really is so cute and sweet and we love having her around.

She likes to suck on her lips so her lips are all chappy, silly girl!
She can sit in the bumbo seat now and she likes it. Oh how fast they grow!

This is what happens after one of those nights where she plays for several hours in the middle of the night. It is pretty rare, however, that Conner, my little bundle of energy, falls asleep on my lap, too.

And just as a side note, Conner's preschool went on a field trip to the fire station and I just thought this was a cute picture.

Happy Birthday Nikolas!!

2010-03-04T22:10:00.006-06:00

Nikolas turned 2 yesterday! TWO. I can't believe it. His birthday is bittersweet for me. It's a day that 2 years ago my life changed forever in so many ways that I never could have imagined. It's a day when I am so glad that he has made it through this year and that he is home and we didn't celebrate his 2nd birthday like we did the 1st, in the hospital, and that he is making progress and that he's my sweet little bubba boy. But, it's also a day when it's very hard not to imagine what he could be or should be like if he were a normal two year old boy. I try not to dwell on it and try to concentrate only on the blessings and the progress that he's made over the past year. He's such a strong soul and I am a better, stronger person because of him and we wouldn't trade him for the world. We tried hard to make it a special day for him even though I'm not sure he was aware that it was his birthday. As always, Conner was more excited than anyone to have a birthday celebration and told Nikolas happy birthday about a hundred times!

We bought him a shiny birthday balloon that he liked

but the regular balloons that we filled his crib with after his nap were a bigger hit. Both Conner and Nikolas enjoyed playing with them.

Even Carmendy got in the balloons for a little bit but she wasn't very happy about it. Nikolas didn't keep his birthday crown on for very long but I thought he looked cute as the Birthday Prince!

Nikolas loves to be outside and thankfully it was a beautiful day so we took him to the park in our brand new double stroller from Grandma and Grandpa Beam. It was a great birthday gift for Nikolas, he actually fits in it unlike the one we currently have!

Swinging is one of Nikolas's favorite activities

Then Nikolas opened his presents, rather, Conner opened Nikolas's presents for him because he was so excited about them and Nikolas wasn't really interested and needed help! Conner actually picked out most of Nikolas's presents and he did a great job, they were very thoughtful gifts.

One was this big ball and Nikolas loved it

Another was these sock puppets. Nikolas loves to watch our hands and so we made these puppets for him.

And even though Nikolas doesn't eat anything (by mouth), you can't have a birthday without a cake, right?!! I've mentioned before that his favorite toy is Rusty the Wrench from Handy Manny

So, I made him a Rusty cake hoping to inspire him to want to play in it and maybe even try some.

He really wanted nothing to do with it and wouldn't even eat the little piece of frosting I put on his mouth. Oh well, I guess it was the thought that counts and the rest of us enjoyed it!

Happy Birthday my sweet little Nikolas and here's hoping for many more birthday celebrations in the future!

Family Photos

2010-02-25T12:35:00.003-06:00

Some of our wonderful friends in Arizona entered us into a contest to win a free family photo session with a great photographer in Austin and we won!! We just had the photo shoot on Saturday, click HERE to view some of the pictures. Thanks to our amazing Arizona friends and especially to Kristen Duke for the fantastic pictures.

Valentine's Day Fun

2010-02-14T16:00:00.006-06:00

Our Valentines Day fun this year was celebrated making and decorating sugar cookies. Conner had fun at a V-Day party with his preschool class....so much that he wanted to continue sharing his love with his friends that weren't at preschool. Friday was spent making Rice Krispie Treat hearts and preparing sugar cookies. Apparently sugar cookie dough needs to hibernate in the fridge overnight. Saturday, was spent rolling, cutting, cooking, and decorating the sugar cookies. Conner loved spending time with Momma in the kitchen baking cookies. He really does enjoy helping out with fun activities in the kitchen. Later that night we piled into the van and began "secretly" distributing his V-Day presents. We dropped a plate off at Leslie's office manager's house. Conner had another four or five friends he wanted to give valentines to. I think Leslie had as much fun as Conner knocking on the door and hiding, then hearing their reaction. I remained in the van parked a few doors away with Nikolas and Carmendy. We had a fun time and hope to make this a tradition. Enjoy the pictures from this memorable V-Day.

I thought this was a cute brother bonding picture. We turned on a Little Einsteins, via DVR, the other day for the boys to watch. They sat next to each other the whole time...

Conner and Carmendy spending some happy smiling moments together in the kitchen. Carmendy is really starting to get chubby. She is very smiley and has even started to giggle a little!

Conner helping Leslie roll out the sugar cookies. I had to take this picture with the flour all over his pants.

Nikolas contributing to the cookie making fun. He sat in his high chair and watched Conner get flour all over his pants.

Leslie and Conner starting the process of frosting and decorating 60 cookies.

All the cookies frosted and decorated by the family.

Leslie's Martha Stewart moment...

This was my pride and joy of the cookies I decorated. I think I will attach it to my resume showing how multi-talented I am. Not only can I create, evaluate and manage a public health program...I can also decorate cute cookies to promote it!!

Recovery

2010-02-05T19:17:00.003-06:00

Nikolas was happy and smiley the day after surgery (Isn't he looking good?!). We were all pleased at how well he recovered. He seems a little sore, especially if you pick him up too quickly, but he's only required Ibuprofen for pain control. We came home yesterday. Yay for short hospital stays!! This surgery was the last thing we needed to do to clear him to become activated on the kidney transplant list. Once the endocrinologist, gastroenterologist and the infectious disease doctor send their notes of clearance, and the urologist sends all her surgical notes to San Antonio, Nikolas could recieve a kidney any day.

Me and my boys at the hospital.

Kim and Conner entertaining each other at the hospital.

Carmendy is getting chubby and cute (not that she wasn't cute before!)

She looks so much like Nikolas in this picture when he was little, just healthier!

I love this picture, thanks Lauren! (She's 10 weeks here)

Conner feeding his baby sister. What a good brother.

Made it through another surgery!

2010-02-03T19:29:00.003-06:00

Nikolas had surgery today and made it through again, what a little trooper. I've lost count as to what number surgery this is for him....7 maybe? Although he's been through so many surgeries, I still get anxious every time. It's a hard feeling to describe when you let your baby go knowing that he's going under the knife and all kinds of complications could occur. But, he's doing well and the doctors are anticipating that he will go home tomorrow. Thanks for all the prayers!

8 Weeks Already!!

2010-01-18T11:39:00.006-06:00

Carmendy is already 8 weeks old. They say time goes by faster the more kids you have, I'll vouch to that! Here are some recent pictures of our baby girl and some other random pictures.

Conner still loves to hold his sister.

Nikolas loves giving hugs to his brother.

Conner wanted Nikolas to have spikey hair like his so after a bath we attempted to spike Nikolas's hair.

Kim and Conner went for a bike ride together, great Father/son time!

Conner still loves to help me make dinner or treats (we were making Monkey muffins), what a good little helper.

Can you hear me now?

2010-01-08T17:26:00.006-06:00

A lot of things have happened since the last post. Monday night we noticed that Nikolas's dialysis catheter had a hole in it and was leaking. We called his doctor who told us to clamp his tube, not to dialyze him that night and report to his office the next morning. We were expecting the worst and started packing for a long hospital stay. Initially when Dr. Simon looked at the tube he was certain that we'd have to take the catheter out and replace it which would mean several weeks of hemodialysis while the new catheter healed and a very long hospital stay. My stomach dropped and I felt sick. Dr. Berry, the other nephrologist, looked at it and suggested we at least try to repair it before jumping straight to surgery given Nikolas's history and all that he's already been through. Luckily, they were able to just cut off some of the tubing and repair the catheter instead of doing surgery to replace it. Nikolas finally caught a break after 2 years!!! (We can actually credit this to all the prayers that all of you are still saying in his behalf and to the fact that my Mom was in the temple the same morning praying for the welfare of our family!) His catheter is much shorter now, which really is a blessing. Less chance of getting it caught or pulled on something.

On the same day that I had to take Nikolas to Austin, Kim had to drive to Houston for a job interview with the Texas State Department of Health Services (thanks Lauren, for watching Conner for us!). His job would be supporting the 7 counties in southern Texas that currently don't have health departments. He would specifically focus on childhood obesity and teenage pregnancy. He felt good about the interview and we should hear whether he has the job some time next week.

Nikolas just got his hearing aids!!! We met with the audiologist yesterday afternoon. He is doing really well with them so far. They gave him a small hearing test to see if he could hear things. I sat in a soundproof booth with Nikolas and the audiologist played a sound on the speakers in the booth. Nikolas looked for the sound almost every time. Yes, he can finally hear something!!!! He has been really good at not taking them off. It's really cool to see him looking around at things in a new light. He might suffer from some whiplash because he turns his head so quickly to see what noise he's hearing. This morning he got really scared when I turned on the blowdryer. I can't imagine how loud that must have sounded to him. Below are some pictures of his new hearing aids.

Nikolas shortly after getting his new hearing aids.

They are really small. We bought some gray covers that will cover the actual aid. The covers connect both aids and then clip to his shirt. So when he does pull them out they will just hang from his shirt.

Another picture of his hearing aids. This picture shows how flat the back of his head is. All those months laying in a hospital bed have taken a toll on his poor head.

Christmas

2010-01-04T14:48:00.006-06:00

Nikolas woke up Christmas morning with very cloudy dialysis fluid and what we thought was peritonitis (an infection in his belly)!! Merry Christmas to us. Because of the graduation day fiasco with his catheter, the dialysis clinic had given us some antibiotics. I called his nephrologist and he told me to flush his belly out with medicated dialysis fluid and to take a sample of his fluid to our local lab. He also wanted us to put heparin in the fluid but trying to find somewhere we could get heparin in College Station on Christmas was going to be a challenge. Luckily the hospital here had some Christmas spirit and gave us enough for the weekend (they ususally don't dispense it to outpatients). We moved all our presents into the boys room since Nikolas had to be back in his crib for the treatment.

He spent the rest of Christmas morning in his crib, but at least we were home and didn't have to take him to the hospital in Austin!!!

I did get one picture of my boys in front of the tree on Christmas morning (before we had heard from Nikolas's nephrologist)

Carmendy spent Christmas either in my arms

or in her Christmas present, a swing from one of my MOPS friends.

Nikolas's favorite toy is Rusty, the wrench from Handy Manny. We lost the one we had at the hospital during our last stay, so he got the Handy Manny tools in a tool box and he immediately reached for Rusty. His old friend was back!

Santa left a treasure hunt for Conner to find his big present. The last clue led him to his Mom and Dad's closet and mentioned that there might be a Woset in the closet (from the book "There's a Wocket in my pocket") so when he went to look in the closet, he was a little bit scared and was looking for a Woset. So much so that he didn't even notice the bike that was in there and he even had his hand on it!!! It was hilarious. He finally saw it after some prodding from us and was very excited.

He took it out for a Christmas spin.

When Nikolas was done with his treatment, I was able to get a picture of the boys in their matching Thomas PJs

Conner got some Tinker Toys and the can fits perfectly on Nikolas's head.

After all was said and done, we had a pretty decent Christmas.

It turned out that Nikolas's fluid didn't grow any bacteria and he's doing just fine at home. We did have to make a couple trips to Austin to pick up medications and to visit his surgeon for follow up on his incision. The incision is almost completely healed and we don't have to pack it anymore. Yay! The surgeon said it looked really good.
We also learned that our dog, Cougar, who is staying at Kim's parents house in Utah, had a major injury and a trip to the ER. You can read all about it here if you are interested. Poor Cougar!

Santa

2009-12-24T22:30:00.002-06:00

Conner went to his preschool Christmas party where Kim was asked to be Santa. We almost told Conner that Kim was going to be Santa because we were sure that Conner would recognize him and ruin it for all the other kids. Luckily we didn't end up telling him because Conner had no idea that Santa was his Daddy. He was so excited to have Santa at the party.

and even though he looked Kim right in the eyes, he didn't know it was him.

He came home and told me that Santa was at his party and that Daddy missed seeing him because he was in the bathroom!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ, fills your homes this year.

P.S. Whoever was our "secret Santa", thank you so much for your generosity and thoughtfulness. We really appreciate it. We have been so blessed over the past couple of years through the wonderful people around us who are instruments in the hands of God. Thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Busy, Busy, Busy.....Chaos

2009-12-21T21:54:00.007-06:00

What a busy week we had the last week. Leslie's mom came down to help out the family for a few weeks. Thankfully she was here to lend a hand. Thanks Dorothy for the much needed help in our chaotic life. My parents came down for a week to help celebrate some major milestones in our families life. They were also able to experience our chaos, or as we call it our daily life.

My parents flew in and arrived at our house late Tuesday night. The next day they accompanied Leslie, Conner, Carmendy, and Nikolas to a few doctors appointments in Austin. I was left home to study for my last final! Needless to say it was a long day for everyone. Nikolas is doing really well. His belly incision is almost completely healed. His surgeon is extremely pleased. Finally Nikolas does something the doctors actually expect and that he should do!!!

Thursday I took my horrid final exam. This was one of those final exams where I felt like I had not studied at all. The very first question stumped me! I managed to fill in most of the short answer/essay style questions. It only took me the full three hours. I was the last one to turn in my exam. The professor and I had a short conversation about the semester and he congratulated me on finishing. I mentioned that I needed a certain grade, but did not mention I needed at least a B, in the class to graduate. He said that he would not be the one to hold me back. Leslie and I both had anxiety over my grade. She ended up sending my professor an email on my behalf explaining my situation. Thanks to her, I was given a B grade!!!

Friday was graduation. Graduation was to start at 2:00pm. My parents and I made a short trip to Sam's Club with Conner and Nikolas then stopped by Target to look for some Christmas items for the boys. When I took Nikolas out of the shopping cart I heard a loud snap and some clanking. At that very moment I felt some warm solution streaming over my hand. Nikolas's dialysis catheter had gotten caught in the shopping cart and snapped in half. I wisely pinched off his tubing and we managed to put the catheter back together. It was about 1.5 hours away from graduation. I make a quick call just to inform the dialysis clinic what had happened. They said to bring him in ASAP to have the catheter replaced. Hmmmm...well I graduate in an hour. They said to bring him after that. So we went to my graduation and shortly after it is finished I jumped in the car with my parents and Nikolas and drove 2 hours to Austin. It took them 10 or 15 minutes to replace the catheter. We had a nice graduation dinner at A&W/Long John Silver! Not the most ideal way to celebrate graduating, but it will be memorable. I will have to admit this graduation made me a little teary eyed. It was a long and hard 2.5 years mingled with a lot of medical problems. This degree meant something to me, and it was rewarding to finally see the end!!

Saturday was Conner's birthday. Leslie made him an awesome Mickey Mouse cake. We all had fun. That night we went out to a nice Italian restaurant to celebrate my graduation. It was not a kid friendly nice restaurant. Conner's legs hurt, growing pains, and he was really tired from his birthday activities. Well, he wanted to sit on my lap the whole time. I ended up taking my dinner home and eating it.

Sunday, we blessed Carmendy at church. It was a good blessing. She looked very beautiful in her blessing dress that Dorothy made. Enjoy some of the pictures from our chaotic couple of days. I will have to post the blessing pictures later. They are on my dads camera.

Me shortly after being hooded.

Leslie and me in my graduation garb. I could not have survived graduate school were it not for Leslie. Thanks sweetie!!!

A picture of the whole family with me in my graduation garb.

Conner's birthday party. He had a Mickey Mouse party. The kids are eating pizza and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Conner is up doing the Hot Dog Dance.

Conner blowing out his birthday cake with all his little friends closely watching.

The awesome cake Leslie made for Conner's birthday. She says she is not crafty, but she has done two pretty good birthday cakes for Conner. The expectations are being set pretty high with the two cakes.

Nikolas is getting stronger every day. He is getting to the point where he can hold himself up on his hands and knees. This is a huge step for his strength and development.

He also loves to stand. He is getting to the point where we does not want to just sit on your lap, he has to stand on your lap now.

A cute picture of Carmendy snuggling with her Dad. She has gotten so big. She is a great baby and is loved by the whole family.

It's been awhile since I posted...

2009-12-13T09:57:00.005-06:00

...but it's been busy! Nikolas was released from the hospital a week and a half ago. He's doing just fine, he has good days and bad days, but that's pretty normal. The day before we left the RMH, the Texas Department of Agriculture donated some Christmas trees to the house. They wanted to present them to a family staying at the house so they asked us to be there. We thought it would be something simple but they had news cameras and I had to make a little speech about what the RMH has meant to our family. I was only 8 days post baby so my pregnancy hormones were running rampant and I got all emotional. But really, we don't know what we would do without the RMH. It has saved us thousands of dollars and we've made some great friends and memories there, so I'm glad that I could express our gratitude for all that the staff and the house has done for us.

Conner with the Deputy Commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture. He got to put an official ornament on the tree. He was thrilled!

Nikolas got to join us for the event. Look how he loves his Daddy, (He really does love to be with Kim and will actually reach for him and no one else)

And here we all are in front of the Christmas tree. Thanks Jan, for taking these pictures for us!

So, we got home from Austin on a Wed. and had to go back the next day to pick up my Mom from the airport. We are so glad that she came to be with us and help out. She's been a huge help. Here's some current pictures of Carmendy and her brothers.

Carmendy likes the bouncy seat....

as does Nikolas, he's way too big for it, but he still likes to be in it. I'm surprised it can even hold his weight!

Conner loves his baby sister and wants to be with her all the time.

Nikolas is also very interested in her. He stares at her (as he does with most people) but smiles and kicks his legs alot when she's around.

And here's just a cute picture of my boys.

Carmendy having some tummy time.

We went to Austin on Thursday to see Dr. Meyer, Nikolas's surgeon and Dr. Hauger, the infectious disease doctor. Dr. Meyer said his incision is looking really good and healing the way it should. He said we should just continue to pack it every day. Dr. Hauger changed his antibiotics and said he has to be on them for 4 more months!! He's been having blood in his belly and then pooping black poop (I know,probably too much info) so Dr. Berhane, the GI doctor, stopped by and put him back on Pepcid AC. She said his stomach is probably irritated by the antibioitics and so Pepcid should help stop the bleeding. He's also had a few seizures this week that are unexplained but very scary for me (and him, I'm sure). But, he is continuing his slow progression. Here he is with his physical therapist actually standing up with the walker! He really loves to stand and gets a big smile on his face when he does it. It's like it's liberating for him or something.
His physical therapist, Clarice, is great. We really like her and she is so good with Nikolas

Carmendy pictures

2009-11-29T11:06:00.004-06:00

Newborns change so fast when they are little. Here are some pictures of Carmendy during her first few days of life here at the RMH. I was holding the camera so close that she was going cross eyed trying to look at it!Gotta love the bows!

She's so tiny. I love their little hands and feet when they are newborns.

She sucks on a binky, but she likes my finger better.

Conner and Nikolas admiring their baby sister

Me and all my kids. Do I really have 3 kids?!

Back to Austin

2009-11-26T16:51:00.005-06:00

Leslie and Carmendy were released from the hospital Wed afternoon. She was going to remain home and relax for a few days, but her motherly guilt kicked in. She felt bad she has not seen Nikolas for 3 or 4 days in a row. Needless to say we very quickly packed some things up for Carmendy and made the drive to Austin Wed evening. We are keeping Carmendy secluded in the Ronald McDonald House. Leslie and I rotate between being with Nikolas and Carmendy. Leslie spends most of her time with Carmendy, which is a good thing, because she needs to rest.

Carmendy had a good first night with us. She appears to be a good eater. She allowed Leslie to get six straight hours of sleep last night. Conner is loving having a little baby sister and is extremely protective of her. He constantly asks to hold her and loves helping mom out.

Today, Thanksgiving, we were able to have Nikolas with us for a few hours over at the Ronald McDonald House. Our little family of five was able to have lunch together and get our first family picture at this time.

We hear that Nikolas has the potential of being released early next week. Since College Station has no pediatric home health, Leslie and I will be trained on his wound care and IV antibiotic treatments. Good thing Leslie is a Physician Assistant!!!

On a good note, Leslie does not have to wake up at the crack of dawn to do Black Friday shopping (although she may be awake with Carmendy anyway). She is currently making a list and mapping out my Black Friday shopping. I will probably be the only guy alone out shopping at 5 am. It should be fun and interesting. Wish me luck!!!

Carmendy all ready to leave the hospital. We had to roll up two blankets and pack them on each side before we could leave. They said she wasn't secure without the blankets, which was probably correct.

Nikolas meeting his little sister for the first time. He got really happy. He kicked his legs and was really interested in her. He actually reached out and touched her head. It was very cute!

The first family picture taken today. Nikolas was given a 2 hour hospital release to spend some time with his newly born sister.

Conner, Nikolas and Carmendy together for the first time. I think Nikolas is thinking," Oh my gosh...was I that small?"

Introducing......Carmendy Joy Beam

2009-11-24T08:24:00.004-06:00

The Beam family would like to introduce Carmendy Joy Beam. She joined our family on November 23, 2009 at 14:24. She weighed in at a whopping 5 lbs 15 oz and was 19 inches long.

We were not intending to have Leslie give birth so early. We returned back to College Station Sunday night for me to attend class and for Leslie to have her OB appt and work Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. She wasn't due until December 14th. She went in for her OB appt and was already measured at a 5. The doctor said head over to the hospital, you are having a baby today. Leslie called me during class to break the news. Four hours and three pushes later Carmendy joined the family.

Leslie will remain in the hospital today and most likely leave tomorrow sometime. Conner and I returned to Austin to spend some time with Nikolas. We will return back to College Station to help mom and baby get home. I will most likely return back to Austin to hang out with Nikolas in the hospital, while mom and the baby rest at home.

Enjoy the pictures.

Carmendy enjoying some time with her older brother Conner. Conner was very gentle and nice and gave her lots of soft kisses on her cheeks.

Another picture of her after she was all cleaned up

Mom and daughter enjoying there first bonding time together

The proud big brother showing off his big brother shirt

We finally give Nikolas his first haircut the Sunday before he went into the hospital. Here is the final product. Leslie did a good job about cutting his hair. He did not enjoy the experience one bit, but he looks real handsome.

Nikolas...Nikolas...Nikolas!!!!

2009-11-20T10:58:00.005-06:00

The familiar primary song of Here we are Together is going through my mind. Insert Josh Grobin singing..."Here we are together, together, together..oh here we are together in the hospital. There's Mommy and Daddy and Conner and Nikolas and Nurses and Doctors..oh here we are together in the hospital". Yes it is true, we are back in the hospital.

We were supposed to be here for a surgery to have his "testes" pulled down. Instead we took him to his kidney doctor on Friday because his dialysis port was oozing puss. They took a culture and called us Monday night to say the surgery was canceled and to check into the hospital Tuesday morning. Leave it to Nikolas to have a rare bacterial infection around his dialysis catheter. This is very serious and he may need to have his catheter removed and replaced in another location. The bacteria is slow growing and slow in responding to antibiotics and tends to stick to plastic, like his dialysis catheter. His surgeon came in and said he would recommend going in and surgically removing the infection and leaving it open to drain. Well the surgeon found granulated tissue in his tunnel which means he has had this infection for a while, but just recently got bad enough for us to notice. The surgeon left his "fillet" incision open to make sure the infection is gone. Needless to say he has a rather large cut the size of the grand canyon in his belly. They flush it and redress the wound daily. Over time it should close itself, but it makes me a bit uneasy to see my son with that huge open wound in his belly. I will have to say that he is dealing with it rather well.

Unfortunately, we are told to plan on being here for a minimum of another week. Yes, our second consecutive Thanksgiving spent in the hospital. We will remain here this year and not go up to Dallas to see Leslie's sister since Leslie enters her 37th week of pregnancy next week. We are hoping we will be back in College Station before she gives birth. I believe she is starting to have some strong contractions and has an OB appointment on Monday. We are praying and keeping our fingers crossed she will not be ordered to enter the hospital for birth. That is what happened with Nikolas. She went for a routine visit and was sent directly to the hospital to give birth. It will be difficult to have two family members in the hospital in two different cities. It is not ideal, but somehow we will make it work.

On a positive note I, Kim, found out a few weeks ago that I passed my comprehensive exam!!!!! yahoo.... This is a huge relief. Just three more weeks and school will be complete.

We will keep you posted on Nikolas and the family.

Ode to my friends

2009-11-12T16:45:00.003-06:00

I really do have the best friends. My dear friend, Lauren, threw me a shower last weekend. It was fun to get all the cute pink frilly clothes.

Lauren has been my lifesaver in College Station and has helped me more than she will ever know. Thanks for being such a good friend!!

And to all the good friends in my ward, thanks for your support!

And these two women, affectionately known to Conner as Nana Barb and Miss Deanie, are the women I work with. Thanks to them I still have a job. They have stuck by me through thick and thin, through everything with Nikolas and even stood up for my job when I was away at the hospital for 3 months straight. They love Conner and Nikolas and we are sure glad we know them!!

And here's my best friend of all, Kim. I really don't know how I would live life without him!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T20:46:00.004-05:00

We had a very fun Halloween. We went trick-or-treating at Kroger (the grocery store around the corner) with Jackson and Ryan.

We went to the George Bush Presidential Library for a trick-or-treat.

Conner went to a Halloween party at his friend Romney's house, then we went to our church's trunk-or-treat and fall festival and we went trick-or-treating to a few houses as well.

Conner got so much candy, I threw half of it away but saved all the good stuff. Hope everyone had a great Halloween, too.

Catching up

2009-10-28T20:33:00.007-05:00

While Kim was taking his big test for school, I took the boys to see Thomas the Train at the Texas State Railway in Rusk.

It was a beautiful day, in the 70's, blue sky and I even saw a few leaves that had changed colors. I didn't know that happened in Texas, it actually felt like fall!!

We rode on Clarabel (one of Thomas's coaches)

Conner got to meet Sir Topham Hat

we colored pictures, watched a Thomas movie, listened to a Thomas story, played in the bounce house, pet the animals at the petting zoo, rode on a hayride, and bought a few souvenirs on the way out. Conner had so much fun and Nikolas was very good all day and I think he enjoyed it, too.

Nikolas is getting stronger. We were able to start him on growth hormone the day after his surgery. We hope this helps to stretch him out and also helps him build muscle. He's starting to try to get on his knees and he can push himself backwards a little with his arms. He is sitting so well, even on a little stool all by himself! We are still waiting to get his hearing aids but he has another hearing test scheduled for next week.

He's even starting to get in on the father/son wrestling that goes on a lot around here.

We carved pumpkins for Family Home Evening on Monday. Conner has been so excited for Halloween. He gets the calendar out every day and counts down the days.

It was Kim's birthday this week. I actually made him breakfast, which I'm sure he was surprised about since I'm not sure I've ever made him breakfast our whole marriage (maybe once or twice but I really can't remember). He is displaying his birthday gift (a heart rate monitor for when he runs.)

He also had a bonfire cake, so many candles to represent so many years.

Here we are enjoying some birthday cake and ice cream (yes, it was no sugar added cake and no sugar added ice cream!) I love Nikolas's smile in this picture.

I love how Nikolas is looking at his Daddy in this picture. I think he's trying to say "Happy Birthday, Daddy, we love you!"

Conner wanted to be a bat for Halloween, so my very talented Mother made him this cute costume and sent it to us. His preschool had a little Halloween party today and he was so excited to wear his costume.

Here he is dancing around, flapping his wings.

Conner and Nikolas wear the same size clothes now (at least on the top and in the waist, not in length of course) so the bat hat fits Nikolas just great!

And last but not least, I am hoping that not many people make it through this very long post to view this picture of me at 33 weeks pregnant, but to accommodate some requests to post a picture, here it is folks!

Pat on my Back!

2009-10-24T09:26:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to brag a little about myself. Leslie has been trying to get me to exercise more frequently and lose my pregnancy weight. I have struggled being consistent with exercising, until Leslie purchased me Nike+. For those who do not know what this is, it is a fabulous way to keep track of your running/walking. Today I participated in Nike's World 10k run day. It conveniently fell on the weekend I am taking my comprehensive exam for school, which I must pass to graduate, but it was an excellent way to relieve stress. I am proud to say that I completed the 10k (6.2 mile race) in 59:48 minutes, my fastest 10k run thus far. I thought I would just share my totals since receiving the Nike+ system. I have to say that I am fairly proud of myself. All of this started on August 15, my first run with the Nike+ system.

Workouts: 24
Workout hours/Duration: 17 hrs 14 minutes
Miles ran: 104.52 miles
Average mile: 9 minutes 54 seconds
Calories burned: 16,646 calories

Just thought I would give myself a little pat on the back for accomplishing so much! Now go out and get some physical activity yourself!!!!!

Nikolas's Surgery

2009-10-15T11:56:00.006-05:00

Nikolas's surgery was successful yesterday. The surgery took a little longer than expected, but they relocated his port and removed the old one. The surgeon mentioned that he would place the tip of the catheter "deep" this time. After the surgery he specified what he meant by"deep": the tip of his catheter is sitting inside his right atrium, for the non medical people, the tip is inside his heart. To test the port the surgeon drew most of Nikolas's transplant blood work, a whopping 30 mls of blood. That is a lot of blood for such a little guy. The good news is that we'll soon know his blood and tissue type so we can start searching for kidney donors.

Unfortunately, he had a difficult time coming out of the anesthesia. The doctor said he removed his breathing tube too early and had to put him back under anesthesia to replace the breathing tube. The second dose of anesthesia proved to be too much for Nikolas. He was kept overnight for observation to make sure he was stable. When we left for the night he was almost back to normal.

He had a good night and required no pain medication. He was released from the hospital this afternoon and seems to be doing fine at home so far.

Quick update

2009-10-13T20:09:00.003-05:00

Nikolas had the flu. As you can see from the picture he got really sick and was miserable.

They are pretty sure it was the swine flu and I'm pretty sure Conner had it the week before and gave it to Nikolas. How do you keep your kids from sharing sicknesses? I think it's almost impossible!! Thankfully he didn't have to go to the hospital and he pulled through (I was pretty worried at one point), and thankfully Kim and I didn't get sick.

We took him a few days later to Austin to see the urologist about his undescended testicles and to have an ultrasound done on the vessels of his neck. Nikolas's nephrologist wanted to see if there was another place we could put his port that might allow it to work better so we can actually use it for blood draws. They couldn't do the ultrasound without sedating Nikolas and they couldn't schedule the sedation until the next day. So, we drove back the next day and a 15 minute ultrasound turned into a 5 hour ordeal including general anesthesia for Nikolas. I really should be used to things like this by now, but somehow I'm always suprised and a little irritated at how long things take!!

They called us Monday to inform us that Nikolas is scheduled for surgery tomorrow (Wednesday) to move his port to a different location. Pray that he'll make it through and that the port will actually work so we can elimnate some of the trauma of blood draws for little Nikolas. It should be an outpatient procedure but with Nikolas, we never know!

The rest of us are just plugging along. I'm 31 weeks pregnant and still working, Conner started preschool and loves it, and Kim has his comprehensive exam over everything he's learned in the past 2 and 1/2 years this weekend which will determine whether or not he can graduate in December. Life just never stops!!

Transplant Appointment

2009-09-29T20:25:00.005-05:00

Look how strong he's getting! He can hold himself up on his arms and occasionally even pushes up on his own.

We had a very long day in San Antonio. Our appointment was at 9 a.m. and we didn't leave until 3 p.m. (Poor Conner was so tired and had about had it by the end! Can you blame him?) We met with the clinical coordinator, the surgeon, the social worker, the nephrologist and the nutritionist. They all basically asked the same questions and said the same things. But, we did get some of our questions answered and got to put some faces with names. They did say they would recommend him for the transplant list provided that we get clearance from his endocrinologist and have her put him on growth hormone, get clearance from his GI doc and see a urologist and get his undescended testicles taken care of. They also tried to get blood from Nikolas so they could get a blood type and tissue type so we could start the whole process of putting him on the transplant list and his port wouldn't draw and they couldn't find a peripheral vein (of course). We left feeling a little disappointed and felt as if it was a long day of very little accomplishment and like we weren't any closer to transplant than we were before we went. But, at least we got established in the clinic and we won't have to go back to San Antonio until the time of the actual transplant. We got some information for those who would like to be tested. There is a packet of information you have to fill out and an 888 number to call to find out more about where you go and what kind of blood tests need to be done, etc. The donor testing can't be done, however, until Nikolas's testing is complete, so we'll keep you all posted.

We were able to have a little fun on the trip. Nikolas's insurance paid for us to stay in a really nice hotel right in downtown San Antonio so we got to see the Alamo and had dinner on the Riverwalk

and there was a tourist train station right across the street from the hotel and Conner loved the model train they had on display.

Nikolas looking at the drink and dessert menu at dinner. Unfortunately, none of the items are allowed in his diet!

Conner always wants us to take pictures of him and Nikolas together. Of course, I don't mind.

Good News

2009-09-25T15:50:00.002-05:00

We got a call on Wednesday from the transplant team in San Antonio informing us that Nikolas has an appointment on Monday to start the work up for his kidney transplant. Yay! I wish they would have given us a little more notice, but we've been waiting a long time for this so we'll take what we can get. Originally, we had an appointment scheduled for the beginning of August but instead Nikolas was in the hospital so we had to cancel. We are excited and a bit nervous to actually get the process going. For those of you who have said you are willing to get tested to see if you're a match, hopefully we'll have more info for you after this appointment. If anyone is interested in getting tested who hasn't already let us know, please let us know. Send your prayers our way that things will go well!!

Happy Birthday

2009-09-21T21:17:00.003-05:00

My birthday was last week and my boys did a good job making me feel loved and appreciated. As you get older, birthdays get less and less exciting. Good thing I have Conner around to get excited for me! He was so excited, he woke me up early to tell me it was my birthday and he was much more excited for me to open my presents than I was. Thanks to Tiffany who watched our boys for a little bit so Kim and I could go to dinner. After they made a yummy birthday dinner for me on Sunday, Kim and Conner made a sugar free cake with sugar free frosting from scratch (I didn't pass my 26 week glucose test so I have to go sugar free again, like last pregnancy, and watch my diet and exercise more). We had the Bertoldos over to enjoy it with us and it turned out really good. And yes, the cake looks like it's on fire, but it's just because there are a large amount of candles celebrating my age!!

Conner excitedly singing "Happy Birthday" to me.

And here are my sweet boys, they love each other!

We've recently started bathing them together and they both love it.

Playhouse Disney Live

2009-09-12T09:33:00.004-05:00

Last night we took the family to see Playhouse Disney Live. For those who know Conner you know his obsession with Little Einsteins. We have expanded his television watching to include more Playhouse Disney shows. He enjoys Handy Manny, Tigger & Pooh, Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Playhouse. He recently has re-added Dora and Diego to his TV requests. Since our move to College Station, Leslie and I have been converted to the DVR. It is fabulous. We record the shows we like to watch, then watch the shows when we have time. We fast forward through the commercials and junk, which saves us a lot of time. Conner would sit in front of the TV all day without the DVR recordings. When the recording is over, he knows to turn the TV off. He usually requests to watch Little Einsteins on a daily basis. So we thought that it would be a fun surprise to take him to see his favorite characters live. He really enjoyed it, and of course we enjoyed seeing him enjoy it. We are sure he will talk about this fun surprise for a long time, much like he did when we went to Sea World two years ago. He talked about it for months.

Little Einsteins Red Rocket. Conner really enjoyed seeing Red Rocket. He said it was his favorite part!

The end of the show. This is by far the best picture from the show. You can see from left to right...Tigger & Pooh characters, Mickey Mouse Playhouse characters, Little Einsteins characters, and Handy Manny

Conner getting his groove on. He sure can cut a rug for a little white guy. It basically looks like he is conducting an orchestra..kind of like how I, Kim, dance. I do dance a killer Deacon Shuffle, though.

Leslie speding time with her sweet Nikolas. Nikolas did great during the whole show. At home Conner and Nikolas sit in the same chair and watch the show together. It is their bonding time

Leslie and her boys at intermission

Me and my boys patiently awaiting the start of the show

This was a constant expression on Conner's face the whole show. I think his face muscles are really sore today from all the smiling he did last night

Zoo with Wu's Crew

2009-09-08T12:49:00.004-05:00

We had not seen or spent any time with Wu, Leslie's sister Wendy, for a long time. They are only 3-4 hours away, but we do not see each other as much as we would like. On Saturday we met them at Cameron Park Zoo in Waco. We had a wonderful time with Wu and her crew. It seems like every time we go to the zoo with Wu, Nikolas ends up in the hospital. We were hoping to avoid the curse of Wu's Crew. Conner just loves spending time with his Dallas cousins and could not pass it up. The weather was warm and we were a little worried about Nikolas. They had plenty of air conditioned exhibits to allow him to cool off. We all survived! The day was capped off watching the wonderful BYU win over Oklahoma.

Conner, Carter, and Cameron posing at the Komodo Dragon exhibit. The dragon was not nearly this size, but it was cool to see.

Nikolas managed to take a nap. We did not think he would fall asleep in his stroller with how hot it was, but he did.

A picture of Leslie, who is almost 6 months along, comparing her hump with the hump of the bison. The bison mothers agree that Leslie still does not look pregnant.

A family picture in front of the Bison. It is virtually impossible to get Nikolas to look at the camera for family pictures. He always looks at Conner when he says "Cheese!"

Conner and Carter playing inside the tepees.

For Family Home Evening we had a picnic at a local park. The park has a pond with ducks and a nice playground for Conner. Although it was still pretty warm outside, we had a good time.

Just a cute picture of Nikolas enjoying the park for FHE. Is his head perfectly round or what?????