Will it ever be spring....YES! and Avery's climbing!

Yes, we are supposed to get more snow, not like the last 3 storms - just 5 inches or so - but some super strong winds :( If we can muster through......spring IS coming. This bulb I photographed this afternoon out front! So here's the proof, spring IS coming!

Soooooooo, Avery is climbing. She figured it out and now thats all she wants to do. She has been caught 3 times on the dining room table tonight alone. The scary part is that we have a pub table in the kitchen, so it's very high. And if she follows in her big brothers footsteps....there may be stitches in her future. Brenden was about 2 1/2 when he fell from the kitchen chair and put his teeth through his lip and needed 2 stitches in his mouth. ARGH! I have to admit though I am enjoying all of these little things so much. Even when she smacks me in the mouth :) She is a spitfire!

Avery's 18 months!

Hard to believe it's been 18 months! Avery is doing well - still not talking which I suspect will be a topic of conversation at this weeks 18 month well check. She says "Duh" for dog and it sounds like she says "ah deer" for in there???? We shall see. She is running now and dancing up a storm. She is always pretty eager to show off her "moves"! She loves to play wii (well, we take the batteries out of one remote and let her hold that one while we play) She is very cute with it, she shakes the remote just like we do :)

After Avery's first eye surgery I said that we were fully aware that she would likely need more surgeries in the future. Carl and I learned of a specialist at UCLA (yes.....all the way in sunny California) this specialist does a special surgery that only a handful of doctors in the US do. And UCLA is where the procedure was pioneered. It's still a eye muscle surgery, just a little more involved than her first surgery. We are in the process of trying to set up a trip to CA to have her evaluated for this procedure. Her opthomologist feels confident that she will be a surgical candidate and that this procedure would benefit her more than a traditional medial rectus release (the surgery that she had done in August) . We are still in the early stages of planning and right now we are looking to go in June, but also hoping that they may be able to fit us in somewhere before then.

Another snow day...and schools are still closed!

thankfully we only got a dusting of snow with this last storm and I have not heard a mention of any more snow during this week - so lets hope it stays that way so Brenden can get back to school sometime in February! Carl and I had a quick trip to OC to check on the condo and make some decisions on the bathroom. The bathroom is the final step and it should be done in the next 6 weeks hopefully. We picked out the tile for the shower and got some other odds and ends done - phew! I have some news on Avery's eyes, and will get to that in a separate post - Im beat and I have to finish watching the bachelor!

snow snow and more snow

4 days ago we had our second "blizzard" of the season and today - is the third. On Saturday we got 38 inches of snow and today they are calling for up to another 30. Now how in the heck can they measure that when the wind is causing drifts upto 4-5 feet tall. The wind is howling and it is still snowing. Carl is spending another night in a hotel downtown so he cant get to work tomorrow.

A winter to remember

We have been literally snow covered. The latest blizzard dumped 38.3 inches on us and yes....we are expecting another 10-20 inches tomorrow. The snow is so deep, it's even impossible for Brenden to play in, though he has enjoyed his igloo!

At this rate Brenden is going to have the entire week off from school. The roads in many places still look terrible. Ours is plowed and in good shape, but these bitter cold nights are leaving many super icy patches. In preperation of the big storm, Carl will be staying at a hotel tomorrow night :( This way he can get into work safely on Wednesday morning. So we will be playing plenty of wii and having loads of hot chocolate tomorrow for round 2 of this crazy snow!

A winter cruise

We have been back from our cruise for a couple of days and finally I get to blog! We started our trip with an overnight in Miami where the weather was crappy and we were cramped in a small hotel room. then Sunday we boarded the Norweigen Jewel and for a fab surprise Carl booked us a fantastic room (which totally made up for the shoebox size room we were in the night before) We had a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom suite where our bathroom overlooked the water on the ship! We had a private pool and sundeck and the craziest thing of all is that we had a butler! The room was amazing and made the cruise so much more enjoyable.

Brenden did great and we took him snorkling for the first time and he did really well!! And in Nassau I took Brenden parasailing. He wasnt scared a bit, I was nervous the whole time - I shouldve done that before I had kids - lol. Overall the weather was decent, though it couldve been a little sunnier. We still got to do a lot and enjoy the warm weather before returning to the snow, literally!

As you all know Conner's birthday fell on the 2nd day of the cruise. It was a tough day for us all! I started the day by getting up early and sitting in the bathtub watching the sunrise and thinking of my sweet boy! We sang happy birthday to the starts that night and thought about him every second! I was super excited to see the starfish in Belize (pictured above) a sure sign from our angel!